


Hands Off, Viper

by CanuckleheadCowgirl, magnetocerebro



Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [36]
Category: Alpha Flight, Avengers (Comics), New Avengers - Fandom, X-Men (comics), Young Avengers
Genre: 2nd Generation Avengers, 2nd Generation X-Men, 2nd Generation X-Vengers, 714 Universe - Freeform, Co-Written, Freeform, Gen, and I don't want to stop that either, but sometimes we can't stop ourselves from being mean, character growth warnings, it is happening, we want them happy, wide wide universe
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-04
Updated: 2019-12-14
Packaged: 2021-01-22 17:41:42
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 16
Words: 66,086
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21305996
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CanuckleheadCowgirl/pseuds/CanuckleheadCowgirl, https://archiveofourown.org/users/magnetocerebro/pseuds/magnetocerebro
Summary: The community of mutant schools has finally reached a point where they can work together, but how close are their connections, really? Growth is one thing, but some things never change, and unfortunately, the song playing is all special ops, trouble, and Lady Hydra.
Relationships: Bobby Drake/Rachel Summers, Kurt Wagner/Kate Bishop, Logan Howlett/K Howlett(OC), Mac Hudson/Heather Hudson, Scott Summers/Annie Hale (OC), Viper/Evil
Series: The 714 Marvel Universe [36]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/552748
Comments: 6
Kudos: 5





	1. Like Mother, Like Daughter

"This simply isn't moving fast enough," Viper said to herself as she looked through the intel on how quickly boost was working its way through the larger cities in the US. "Something stronger, perhaps."

She was working in her lab — as she had been for months — trying to perfect the formula that was starting to trickle out. Of course, she'd been sure to _start _in Madripoor. No better place in the world to establish something new and dangerous than there. But her littlest protege simply wasn't laboratory savvy, so Miss Sarkissian was forced to split her efforts between her passions in the lab and securing her legacy with the bright-eyed girl.

Jamie had ingratiated herself into the government side of affairs in the Canadian school. The boost they had there wasn't as potent as it _could _be, but it did help the girl to find the more vulnerable students for them — and for Viper. Jamie was learning how to turn those vulnerabilities to her advantage, and she was learning well.

"Did you get those boys to agree to saturate Toronto?" Viper asked distractedly.

The girl nodded as she came in. "Yes."

"And the others are all still on board?" Viper asked. "You did get them using, yes?"

"Of course," Jamie said quickly. "I had to slip it to a couple of them, but once they were strung out, it was easy."

"And you're prepared for a more … intensive year, yes?"

"I want to do more," Jamie swore. "I _can _do more. If you'll just tell me how."

Viper smiled and ran her the back of her hand down the side of the girl's face. "So eager to please."

Jamie leaned in with wide eyes. "I can do it."

"Find a _good _boy and turn him," Viper said without removing her hand. "You should be able to manage that much, even without using your wiles."

Jamie smiled and nodded. "That I can do," she said. "And there's a whole new flock this year."

"Oh, there is a new flock every year, isn't there?"

"Yes, but this year, the Canadian school will get more involved with the others. Mostly dances as a way to integrate the schools. It's a whole host of new possibilities."

"Oh?" Viper asked, looking far more interested. "When did you find this out?"

"When we got our fall schedules," she said. "The fall formal is in Chicago, for example. There's a Sadie Hawkins in Los Angeles…"

"Are there any other … group activities?"

"Well, the other schools all get together at the end of every semester for finals, but since the school I'm at is internationally separated…" Jamie let out a sigh.

"You don't want to change schools," Viper said with a wave. "You're simply not ready to deal with the X-Men on their own turf."

"I could be," Jamie said, almost pleadingly.

"But you are not yet," Viper said. "In time, my sweet girl. In time."

* * *

Over the summer, Bishop Publishing had a great internship program for aspiring writers and editors, and since Nolan was going into his junior year, he had applied for one of the positions there. As it turned out, the nonfiction editing department absolutely adored him; he was good for quick fact-checking and sourcing and had an eye for detail.

They only took about four kids every summer, which was a small enough group that Kate could handle running the exit interviews with all of them, and Nolan's was last. She grinned at him and waved him in when he arrived. "How was your summer?" she asked with a warm smile.

"Great," he answered with a grin.

"You ready for school to start back up?"

He let out a breath and nodded. "I think so. It's time to start pushing to get my college applications tight, right?"

She smiled at that. "You and my nephew think alike. Good for you thinking ahead. Most kids wait until their senior year when it's a scramble."

"I've got a goal that I'd like to reach," Nolan told her with a troublemaking smile.

"Are you still hoping to be a novelist even after seeing this side of things?" Kate said with a teasing smile. "It's pretty killer."

"No, not a novelist," he admitted with a smile. "I was hoping to get into journalism, honestly."

"Really?" Kate leaned forward. "What brought this on?"

"I think the news is really lacking a lot of fact-checking, and I want to be part of the group that changes that. You know … put an end to the sensationalizing and just … report facts." He shrugged. "I know it's a long shot, but I think people appreciate that more than the garbage they like to put out."

Kate looked delighted. "I think that's a _great_ idea," she said.

"Really? Not too … far out there then?" Nolan asked.

She shook her head. "My nonfiction department has been _raving _about your eye for detail. That's exactly what you want for that kind of job." She leaned forward. "You need to have the heart for it, though. You have to have the drive to get the story. Just a tip."

He nodded. "I want to make sure the full story is told," he replied. "I'm really sick of the edited news."

She grinned even wider at that. "You and me both, and I've been fighting that since before you were born."

"Yeah … I'll be honest, I almost applied for another position over the summer … but I don't think they were as honest about their stance as they should be, news-wise."

"Well, if you want to go into the news, as much as my editing department loves you, you really should go outside of book and magazine publishing. It's a very different world," she advised.

"I know, but honestly, the _Bugle_ is the place that everyone looks to, but it's just all … funnelling that big blowhard on his show, and I can't stand it."

Kate let out an honest laugh and nodded. "That big blowhard is getting worse with age," she told him. "Honestly."

"Well, it's too bad I'm not good in speeches and debates," he laughed.

"No, but you can _write_, Nolan," she told him honestly. "You're incredibly articulate when you put pen to paper. And as ridiculous as JJ can be? You really could learn from him. I've worked with him before. He's not half bad when he's on the right scent."

He watched her for a moment, weighing it out. "I read that book, you know," he told her. "How hard did you have to work to get him on the scent?"

"It helped that he was pissed off about his mind being hijacked, so he was already out for blood. I just pointed him in the right direction; that's all," Kate said. "The _hard _part was gathering the information."

He nodded to himself. "Then I think … I want to spend a semester trying to get my writing good enough to apply for an internship there," he said slowly.

"If you need a letter of recommendation, believe it or not, he'll accept it from me," Kate said with a smile. "We have an understanding that my business doesn't fool around."

"Only if I earn it," Nolan said with a nod. "And I don't think I'm quite there yet."

"I think you're more prepared than you think," Kate told him. "And my letter would be about your internship here. It would be from Bishop Publishing, not Hawkeye the professor at Xavier's."

He looked wide-eyed as he weighed it out. "Then I think … if it's not too much trouble? I'd like to give it a shot — and see if Mr. Summers would work out something with me so I can do an internship and finish up my credits. Provided I get in, of course."

Kate beamed. "I think he'd love that idea. Practical coursework? Totally up his alley," she assured him. "And I'll talk to him if he needs the push, but honestly, Nolan, if you can get into the _Bugle_, or even a different newspaper or a news outlet, he'll bend over backwards to help you."

Nolan couldn't help but smile at her. "I hope you're right. I know I totally blew it with my test for the team."

"Not everyone will be on the team," Kate said. "Scott's own daughter isn't even trying out. He's not going to hold that against anyone, I promise you." She smirked. "I'd hit him if he did. I have a thing about inclusion."

He grinned wider at her. "Then … I guess … I don't know what else to say but thanks! This has been a great summer all around."

She beamed at him and leaned across the desk to shake his hand. "Good luck, Nolan. I mean it: we really do want you to succeed."

Kate watched Nolan leave with a smile before she realized… That meant he would be staying there for at least a semester, two if he got on with the _Bugle_…

"Oh, oops," she muttered as she pulled out her phone to text Logan: _I may have just accidentally convinced your daughter's boyfriend to stay in New York. Sorry. I owe you. I LOVE YOU. THAT WAS MY BAD._

There was a short pause before the response came to her from him. _She doesn't really like him that much anyhow. It'll be fine._

Kate just laughed. _I don't think you're doing the proper protective dad. Shouldn't there be a shotgun involved?_

_Right. Hold on. HOW DARE YOU. Feel better?_

Kate laughed outright. _Yes, much. I love you, Wolverine._

_Take your meds, Hawkeye._

* * *

Nolan was in a great mood by the time he got back to Westchester. It had been a long summer, but he'd managed to make the most of it — even if he ended up going for an internship a little earlier than expected so he could stay nearer to Elin. And it looked like there might even be a way to have both sides of his life working out for him for the time being too — especially if Mrs. Wagner was right and he could get into the _Bugle._ The more he thought about it, the more he was sure that she was right. Mr. Summers would have to work with him.

He was still grinning when he caught up to Elin and Krissy where the two girls were sitting under a willow tree near the edge of the lake, just relaxing and doing … whatever it was that those girls did when they were kicking around.

"So," he said as he dropped down next to Elin, "I had my exit interview today."

"Did the big bad editor eat you alive?" Elin asked in a slow, metered tone.

"No, she actually offered to help me apply for an internship at the _Bugle _… kinda," he said as the smile slipped a hair. "So … I'm going to try to do that. I guess. Wow. That … sounds a lot scarier now."

Krissy let out a scoffing noise. "Oh please. You could eat JJ for breakfast."

"Yeah, I doubt that," he said as he slipped down to lie on the ground and stare up through the tree. "All that mustache …"

"Well, you can skip the mustache. Leave it on his grave: _Here lies JJ…._"

"_More mustache than man_," Elin finished. "As evidenced by the hairy lip caterpillar."

Krissy giggled. "Yes, that." She grinned over at Nolan. "I think it's a great idea. I mean, we're all on the team, and now you're doing what you love, so now we're all moving forward, right?"

"That is the idea," he agreed, grinning her way before he sat up. "So … I guess I'll leave you girls to your elaborate plotting to save the world. Just … make sure I get an interview when you're done, alright?" He grinned at both of them before he leaned over to steal a quick kiss from Elin and headed back up to the house.

Krissy grinned over at her friend and leaned back against the tree. "He's not so bad, this boyfriend of yours. I think I might approve. Only a little bit, though."

"He's alright," Elin said with a shrug, determined to keep her poker face. "He tries. So hard."

"He does. I think you have a type," Krissy said with her own straight face.

Elin stopped the scribbling and doodling she was doing to look up at Krissy with a scrunched up nose. "Wouldn't I have to have a record before I had a type?"

"Well, you liked Chance when we were kids," Krissy pointed out.

"When we were like _five_," she said with a little scoff.

"But you have to admit… he's a try-er," Krissy explained.

"That … is not a _type_," Elin said, rolling her eyes.

"Okay, if you say so," Krissy said mildly, rolling onto her stomach to grin up at Elin with her chin in her hands.

"You're ridiculous," Elin said to her, meeting her gaze. "And you think _everyone _is in love with your boyfriend."

"Well, they should be. He's _adorable_," Krissy said with a smile. "I know I'm lucky."

She shook her head again. "I'm pretty sure that Cyclops has a 'cute boys only' rule for admissions."

"Oh, wouldn't that be nice?" Krissy said. "Eye candy. Just for us."

"It isn't going to do you a bit of good," Elin pointed out. "Seeing as you only have eyes for Summerses."

Krissy grinned even wider. "Yes, but there's something to be said for good scenery," she giggled.

Elin put her notebook aside and stretched out alongside her. "So give me three names if there has been _any _scenery you've noticed."

Krissy stopped to think about it. "Well... "

"Uh-huh. You can't think of any because you're just … too attached."

"Well… What about… Sying! Sying is cute," Krissy said. "And… that boy in math…."

Elin started laughing. "You … _you ran away from Sying_, and 'that boy in math' isn't really very specific."

"Well, he was just _scenery_," Krissy said with a sniff.

"I can see your top ten list now," Elin giggled. "Random red-head, math class kid, dude in the coffee shop that one time. No not that coffee shop, the other one."

Krissy flushed a deeper purple than usual. "It's not like I'm asking for names and phone numbers. I _have _a boyfriend, you know."

"I know, but do you know how hard it was to get Sying to even consider looking at any of the _many_ girls that were watching him?" Elin said.

"I know he had a hard time after going to space," Krissy admitted.

"Yes, he had a hard time with girls after the Shi'ar girl kissed him and stomped on him. Yes."

"I can't tell him this, because I think he'll take it the wrong way, but I'm glad I was his first kiss so it wasn't her," Krissy admitted, flushing a bit. "I mean, I don't like him, but I care about him, and that would suck if _she _was his first."

"You just like to be first in everything," Elin laughed lightly. "It's all a competition. It's adorable. And I don't think he'd take it wrong."

"No, I just… can you imagine if _that _was his first kiss? Come on. Worst. First. Ever."

"Seems to be a theme," Elin said.

"Oh come on," Krissy said. "Your first was Nolan, and he's sweet."

"I didn't say he wasn't," Elin replied, propping up on one elbow. "I meant the second was awful. Come on, keep up."

"Okay, I wasn't counting Brian," Krissy said, rolling her eyes. "That was assault, not a kiss."

Elin gave her a dry look. "It was. And it happened in front of _everyone_."

"And I'm still glad Chance beat the crap out of him for it. I would have helped if I was there."

"Yeah, after I broke his jaw," Elin said, settling back down.

"Which I am also glad you did; I'm just saying your friends have the right reaction."

"Chance was so weird after that," Elin told her with a frown.

"Well, you know his dad gave him a serious lecture, right?" Krissy said.

"Yeah. He came and talked to me when he was done with the boys."

"Chance thought he wasn't going to be able to join the team," Krissy told her.

"Because of me. That's nice."

"Because of his temper," Krissy said, shaking her head. "Scott made it pretty clear that he couldn't just take matters into his own hands like that. And you know how impulsive he can be when he gets caught up in something."

Elin shook her head. "Well I certainly hear the stories after the fact."

"Well, I only heard it because we started dating just, like, a couple weeks after that," Krissy admitted. "But the bigger story was that we were dating, so I think the Dad lecture got sort of … washed away. Sorry."

"It doesn't matter," Elin said with a wave. "He didn't tell me anything either."

"He doesn't like to tell _anybody_ when he gets in trouble," Krissy said with a little smile. "He has a fragile ego. Boys are dumb that way."

She scrunched up her nose again. "Yeah, so why are we talking about them again?"

"Because I'm boy crazy and you love me enough to put up with me?" Krissy offered.

"Seriously, Krissy. We need to get you a hobby," Elin replied.

"I _have _a hobby. It involves shooting pointy objects."

"One that _doesn't _involve kissing or killing," she clarified.

Krissy giggled and leaned back in the grass. "We should go see that new movie next weekend, just us girls."

"I'm not going to any more romance movies," Elin warned.

"No, no, this one's an adventure. High seas."

"If it's the one with the busty broad making eyes over the ugly pirate, I'm out."

Krissy laughed. "You just described every romance subplot of every pirate movie ever," she pointed out.

"Because they are so predictable," she defended.

"_Most _movies are predictable," Krissy pointed out. "Westerns with Chance… yes, the good guy will round up the posse and save Miss Kitty. Sci Fi with Sying… oh yes, the pilots will attack the bad guys and beat the alien…"

Elen shrugged. "I'm kind of getting tired of movies, Krissy," Elin said. "The only girls in them are always just … background for the guys. And I don't like it."

"We could watch _Charlie's Angels_?"

"Horrible, badly blocked fake fights with fake boobs and everyone in too little clothes… and the boys in it are hideous." She shook her head. "Not a girl movie."

Krissy let out a sigh. "Fine. But we should still do something fun."

"Dad said I'm old enough to learn how to parachute," Elin told her. "That could be fun."

"Oooh, yes!" Krissy grinned. "I'll come with you. I'll 'port all the way down."

"That sounds like a solid daddy-daughter afternoon," Elin said with a laugh. "Both dads and daughters."

"Dad would love it," Krissy said.

"But would _you_?"

"Well, I can't say I've ever jumped from that high, but I won't know until I try it, will I?"

"Text him and see if he wants to go with us," Elin said. "Dad will go tomorrow if we have company and the weather is good."

"Great!" Krissy beamed at Elin and pulled out her phone. "We haven't done something the four of us in a while. I'm _so _on board."

* * *

The next day, the weather was perfect for their needs, which meant that Krissy and Elin were packed up and ready for a day of skydiving with their dads.

Krissy had to admit that she wasn't sure what to expect out of this particular trip. She didn't mind heights necessarily, because she could jump off of rooftops and port safely down to the ground. But jumping with the expressed purpose of falling without taking the teleporting shortcut all the way down? That was something entirely different.

Still, even her slight nerves couldn't deter her from being excited to spend the day with Elin and their dads. She had been _loving _having Elin back in Westchester for the past few months, and loving it even more over the summer when the only distractions were their boyfriends and the team — and since they were _both _on the team now, that still meant that Krissy could see her friend all the time.

Elin was in a great mood, and for the first time in a long time, she was absolutely ready to go. It was a different kind of troublemaking look, and it matched her father completely.

"Are you guys ready or what?" Logan asked as he cleared out the backseat of the Jeep.

"Ready for a day with my best friend?" Krissy said. "Always."

"Then you girls can go ahead and climb in," Logan told her. "I've got an old buddy waiting for us up north a little ways."

"Oh?" Kurt said with a smile.

"Gotta have someone fly the plane," Logan pointed out. "Blackbird ain't really suited for recreation."

Kurt smirked a bit. "Nonsense. It is when its theme song is playing."

Logan smirked as he climbed in the driver's seat once the girls were grinning in the back. "Well, the plan is to jump, not to hang out and listen to music."

"Oh, is that the case?" Kurt said as if this was news to him.

"If it's too much for you, you can wait on the ground," Logan told him.

"_Lȁcherlich_." Kurt let out a little scoffing noise. "As if I would let _you _have all the fun."

"We could," Elin said. "You'd never know the difference."

Krissy laughed and reached over to pinch her friend's arm. "No way. We're coming with."

"Tagalongs," Elin said with a giggle.

"Accessories," Kurt chuckled.

"Nice to see you finally accepting that," Logan muttered.

"You're thinking of the wrong Wagner," Kurt said with a smirk Logan's way.

"No, if I was talking about her, I'd just _say _'sidekick'."

"I thought that was Uncle Clint," Krissy said, her nose scrunched up slightly.

"For Aunt Tasha, yeah," Elin said.

"And he admits it openly," Kurt chuckled, leaning back with his hands behind his head.

The trip was a decent one, and the girls had plenty of time to chat on the way, though blissfully for Elin, Krissy was careful to steer clear of the boy talk entirely. It was already turning out to be a pretty perfect kind of day on that alone. But when they got to the tiny grass airstrip literally in the middle of nowhere, the nerves that both girls were feeling began to tick up.

"So I'll give you two the basics," Logan said before they opened the doors on the Jeep— and in plain view of the little high wing aircraft. "Then, once you know how it's supposed to go, you two will get your first tandem jump. Just so you can see how you handle it."

"Tandem?" Krissy repeated with a frown.

"You're not jumping on your own to start with," Logan told her. "You'll jump with your dad. Safer that way."

"I know it's a wrench spending time with your old man," Kurt teased Krissy under his breath as he bumped her shoulder.

"Oh, come on, Papa," she said, rolling her eyes as Kurt grinned brilliantly her way.

Logan led the way over to the hangar, giving the pilot at the plane a little wave as the group headed over to start getting ready for the jump. The girls were grinning outright as they changed in the little screened off area, really just pulling jumpsuits on over their clothes, but still. It wasn't a look they'd ever done before.

"Braid my hair?" Elin asked, holding out a rubber band. "I'll do yours too."

Krissy grinned and motioned for Elin to turn around as she took the rubber band. "You haven't worn braids in ages."

"I don't want it in Dad's face," she said with a shrug. "I should probably do braids more often. The ponytail really doesn't do much for me."

"Oh, but I like your hair down," Krissy said.

"Well you're about the only one," Elin said with a little smirk.

"Screw what other people think," Krissy said, waving her hand.

"Sadie says I'm looking too much like Mom," Elin told her.

"That's just how growing up works. I mean, look at Chance. Or Sying. Or even Kaleb!"

"I think she's mad because she wants to look _more _like Mom, honestly," Elin said as Krissy finished up the rubber band on the end of her braid. "Your turn."

Krissy beamed and fluffed her hair behind her for Elin. "I think your whole family is beautiful."

"You're also incredibly biased," Elin said as she combed her fingers through Krissy's hair and then started to quickly pull it back into a braid.

"This, too, is true," Krissy said as Elin finished up with the rubber band and the two girls headed out to find their fathers already getting into their harnesses.

"Grab a harness and get back here," Logan told them, and the girls rushed over to where he was looking to do exactly that.

"Where are the parachutes?" Krissy asked, though Kurt was the one to turn and answer her.

"We're sharing," he informed her with a smirk then double checked his rig to make sure it was fitting him right.

"It's normal for first time skydivers," Logan said. "Unless you're military. Then you're on your own right out of the gate."

"Can we do it alone anyhow?" Elin asked, grinning still.

"No," Logan replied with a little smirk.

The two dads helped adjust the straps for their girls and then headed for the plane. Once they were up in the air, though, Krissy felt a little more nervous, though when Kurt put a hand on her shoulder, she just smiled up at him at bit her lip.

When they hit altitude and the drop zone, Logan and Kurt shared a look and went through the highly scientific method of rock paper scissors before they determined that Logan and Elin would go first. After a quick double check of all of the straps and carabiners … Elin shot Krissy a grin, and the two of them leapt out of the plane.

Kurt gave Krissy a little squeeze and once again checked the last of their adjustments as well and shouted over her shoulder so she could hear him over the wash. "Ready?"

"As I'll ever be!" she replied.

Kurt grinned. and the two of them tipped out of the door, not far behind the Howletts, who had already stabilized and were just enjoying their freefall. Of course, they were far enough behind that Kurt simply wasn't going to have it, and a moment later, the two of them disappeared and reappeared almost within an arm's length of the two smiling ferals.

Krissy had been having a hard time with the jump until then, but with the 'port, the world felt right again — and slightly more upright — and she ended up grinning as she waved over at Elin all the same. That first jump… that had been _awful_.

They had a nice, long fall, and it wasn't until they were nearly at the end of the freefall that it really started to look like things were rushing up at them. With a little nod and a quick, two-fingered salute, Logan tapped Elin's shoulder to get her to brace herself for the yank that was to come as soon as the chute caught, and in a swirl of red and white, the two of them seemed to yank upwards a moment before Kurt and Krissy did the same.

From there, it was a whole lot of laughter from Elin as they floated down — close enough to shout back and forth. "We should do this every weekend!" Elin called out to Krissy.

"You're totally, brilliantly, insane. You know that?" Krissy called back.

"This is so awesome!" She laughed back. "I can't wait to try that alone!"

Krissy couldn't help but smile at her best friend. "Let's go, then," she said, just because she hadn't seen Elin having _this _much fun and laughing so much in a while, and she wasn't going to rain on that.

Elin was grinning brilliantly back at her and nodding her head before she twisted to look at her father. "When can we go again?"

"We'll watch the weather, and I'll have Dave keep his schedule open," he promised. "Little late in the day to do another one."

"But we _should _do it again," Krissy said, smiling at her friend.

"A few more tandem jumps and then you'll be ready to go alone," Kurt told her.

"I like it when they go first so we can catch up to them," Krissy said with a crooked smile.

"It helps to 'port, doesn't it?" he replied in her ear with a grin.

"It does," she agreed, smiling a bit. "It's re-orienting."

Kurt tipped his chin toward Elin and Logan, who were both still smiling. "Unless you're a little crazy, of course."

"I thought we knew this about them, though," Krissy giggled.

"We knew it about _him_," Kurt corrected. "It's news that she's almost keeping up."

Krissy laughed and shook her head. "No," she decided. "I think it's fair. She's hidden and isolated just like him, so why not the rest of the crazy?"

Kurt had to chuckle before he kissed the side of her head. "Let's hope you're wrong."

"Oh, okay," she said with a dramatic sigh.

When they got near the ground, Kurt and Krissy of course teleported to a perfect landing while Logan and Elin took the slightly more traditional route and still managed a soft landing. Elin was clearly still enjoying herself as the silk draped around them and she shouted for Krissy. "You are missing out when you _cheat_!"

"No, no, _you _are missing out by _not_ cheating!" Krissy shot right back.

"But I get a hug! You just … cheat!" By the time Logan had gotten the harness off of them both, Elin was actually _bouncing _in place.

"Have you _met_ me?" Krissy said, both hands on her hips as she tossed her braid over her shoulder.

"Once or twice, yes," Elin said with a bright smile on her way over to give Krissy a bear hug.

Krissy wrapped Elin up just as tight as she could. "You're beautifully insane."

"Says you," she said, totally unable to stop smiling before she bounced over to give Kurt a kiss on the cheek and then went back to hug her dad again.

Krissy shook her head as Kurt got the harness off. "I am glad to see her like this," she admitted.

"Sometimes," Kurt said thoughtfully as Logan gathered his chute, "it seems that this family needs to risk their lives to remember what it is to live."

"I think they're just adrenaline junkies," Krissy giggled.

"That's what I said," Kurt agreed with a laugh.

"Oh, if you say so," Krissy said before she kissed her father's cheek.

Elin's good mood lasted all the way back to the institute, and when they passed the boys working on Sying's ship together, it was clear that they hadn't expected the broad smile from Elin either.

"What's got you in such a good mood, and how can we do a repeat performance?" Sying called out.

"Oh, just a little daddy-daughter fun," Elin sang back with one shoulder shrugged up before she spun on her heel and simply headed inside.

Krissy laughed and teleported over to where Chance was to grab his hand and kiss his cheek. "The whole family is insane," she said.

"Okay, but that doesn't tell us anything at all," he pointed out.

She just laughed at that. "She made me jump out of a plane, Chance."

His eyebrows shot up, and Sying peeked around the side of the ship. "You did?"

"And we weren't invited?" Chance said.

"It was a _daddy-daughter _date," Krissy repeated. "You guys don't fit the bill."

"Oh, come on," Chance grumbled.

"It really wasn't as fun as you guys seem to think it is," Krissy told him. "It was _terrifying _before Papa and I 'ported over to them."

"Are you scared of _heights_, Kris?" Chance asked with a crooked smile.

"No."

"You're scared of heights," he said, grinning even wider.

Krissy just rolled her eyes and then pulled Chance into a kiss to make him shut up as Sying shook his head and refocused on his ship.


	2. The United Nations Visit

The timing on the summons Scott had received couldn't have been any worse, with the semester just starting up and a recent MRD resurgence taking up his time over the weekend, but if Scott was going to be impaneled by the UN, this would of course be the time they sent it out.

It was in between classes, then, that he caught up with Logan and knocked on his office door while he was going over the lesson plan for his combat class. "Feel like going to Brussels?" Scott asked.

"If it means I can ditch this stupid record-keeping crap? I'm there."

Scott smirked and nodded. "Not going to be too much more interesting where we're headed," he admitted.

"What's the story?" Logan asked, though he was already getting to his feet.

"United Nations," Scott said simply.

Logan stopped and took a deep breath. "Is this an official run?"

Scott nodded. "Embossed and engraved invitation and everything."

"I'll get my party dress," Logan muttered.

Scott nodded and headed off — and when he met up with Logan again to head out, it was the full uniform look and everything. For the moment, they were headed up to appear before the International Law Commission, but Scott wouldn't be surprised if this ended up becoming a Security Council Issue — if they decided the X-Men were considered to be a security body, which be a first.

It wasn't until they were in the air, though, that Scott explained the issue to Logan. "They're getting nervous about how much 'power' the X-Men have," he explained. "There are more and more mutants every year, and they think we're an independent governing body. Or, at least, that's the worry."

"That'd be nice for taxes anyhow," Logan deadpanned.

Scott smirked and nodded. "That was all the UN ambassador told me over the phone, but I wouldn't be surprised if they want some kind of oversight and that's what this is about."

"Uh-huh," Logan said, shaking his head. "Couldn't do it with registration and tags; make us 'work' for them as a threat to international security and they still get what they want."

"It's not to the Security Council yet," Scott said. "Which is the one thing we have in our favor. It's more of a sovereignty issue than security — for now."

"Which is a joke," Logan replied.

"Don't I know it," Scott said, leaning back.

The rest of the flight out was quiet, which Scott was glad for — it was part of the reason he liked to have Logan on this kind of run; he had the space and quiet to go back over what he was going to say, and Logan was willing to let him bounce ideas off of him if he needed it.

The two of them got to the panel in uniform, and Scott gave his opening remarks, reiterating once _again _that the X-Men were not a governing body but simply the only option that so many mutants around the world had to _survive_ when the treatment of mutants around the world varied widely from country to country — not only in legal status but in whether they qualified as even human. The Xavier Institute was a sanctuary; the school was the best chance mutants had to realize their dreams — not just becoming X-Men but becoming reporters or doctors or astronauts.

"I don't have to tell you why there aren't many mutants in the world right now who are my age," Scott added. "So few of us _survived _that long. There is a rising generations of young mutants who have an incredibly limited number of people who even know what it's like to go through what they're going through. If you're upset that so few of us are helping so many of them, it might do this body some good to consider why that is." He took a deep breath. "We've only ever tried to live up to Charles Xavier's dream — that mutantkind and humankind can coexist peacefully. And part of that is helping this new generation learn how to control their powers. We give them a chance to grow up as normally as possible and let them follow whatever career paths they choose." He shook his head. "First and foremost, we are sanctuary, a school. We're no threat to anyone but those that want our extermination."

Of course, that didn't quite sit well with the General Assembly. As soon as Scott had finished his remarks and the floor was open, the questions - or more appropriately, accusations and demands — started to roll in .

"It's one thing to read from your creed," one of the representatives on the panel said. "But the reality is something else. Every mutant in the world knows who the X-Men are, and you can't tell me you aren't aware that they look to your group for leadership. That supercedes any national or international body."

"The United Nations doesn't have any authority to dictate what people believe or who their heroes are," Scott said. "I grew up watching reels of historical figures like the Howling Commandos, for example. My son loved John Wayne movies when he was young. Neither of those things is alarming. Ask any member of this body who their heroes were growing up. Are you going to limit that?"

"It makes a difference that the X-Men are an organization," came the response. "One that doesn't answer to any higher international authority."

"The only reason we _can _serve as sanctuary is that we _are _independent," Scott said. "These kids need to know that they are safe with us — that we aren't going to give them back to their oppressors."

"Are you suggesting the United Nations would do that?"

"I'm saying I grew up in one of the most advanced nations in the world and still saw one of my oldest friends shot down for who he was just a few years ago. This isn't old history, sir," Scott said sharply. "This is happening now."

The argument continued in that vein for some time. Apparently, the idea of the X-Men continuing on their own was appalling to most of the group there, but there wasn't much of a legal precedent, either. And the fact was: it was hard to argue the point when the X-Men's independence allowed them to get to mutants in need as soon as they were needed, something that had saved lives.

When they broke for recess, Scott was already shaking his head as he rested a hand on Logan's shoulder — a bit heavier than usual, though it wasn't obvious from where the representatives were sitting that he was leaning on him until they were headed to the hotel where they were staying until the session was over.

"You look like you need some backup, Slim," Logan said quietly.

"Who did you have in mind?" Scott said.

"Sure as hell not me," he replied.

Scott smirked. "That wasn't what I meant," he said with a little laugh.

"I know. Just stallin'," Logan admitted before he let out a breath. "You got plenty to work with. Fury's on the way out. Cap'd back you. Or if you wanna pull the big card and shove it in their face … you do have the Kree Ambassador on speed dial."

Scott actually laughed at that. "You know, I didn't want to pull Captain America in unless I had to, but that…."

"I know," Logan said. "But I kinda wish he was here for that crack on the Howling Commandos bein' staged. I'm sure he'd have listened to that one quietly."

Scott smirked. "I haven't checked my phone yet, but I'm sure he's left a message saying more or less exactly that."

"I got six messages after that … and I'll bet most of 'em are Cap." Logan chuckled. "I didn't read 'em yet. But I didn't turn it off."

Scott took a deep breath and let it out, smirking to himself. "I'll be honest, Logan. I'd call him up and ask his help if I didn't think he'd dress down half the delegates there."

"That's half the fun though, ain't it?"

"We're trying to show we're not threatening," Scott chuckled.

"Well, we're not … he is," Logan said. "Hell. Even I'm just window dressing."

Scott shook his head as they got to the room and he sat down. "I'll call Noh," he said. "It would be a good reminder that intergalactic entities are on our side."

"You mean the Kree don't trust politicians," Logan said, leaning back in his seat and kicking his feet up before he started to check his messages.

"Who does?" Scott smirked as he dialed Noh's number.

"They don't care if no one on Earth does," Logan agreed. "Might be a nice reminder that we're not the only ones in the universe, though."

Scott nodded as Noh picked up on the other line, though he didn't even get to say anything before Noh had offered his help — since apparently, Storm and the others had been watching the testimony.

When Noh did arrive, it was in ambassadorial regalia and wearing a smirk — though he was sure to meet Scott and Logan on their way into the United Nations itself and not the hotel, so it wouldn't look _too _improper, he said.

There was a small uproar over his presence, though, mostly because it was unexpected and because there were a few countries who refused to acknowledge the existence of the Kree — and a few more that refused to acknowledge them as anything but enemies. But after a heated debate, Noh was allowed to speak as an expert and as an ambassadorial courtesy.

He hit the most obvious points first: the list of the countless invasions that had been halted before they even got to Earth as well as the ones that had gotten to Earth and had been pushed back. "My own people found themselves routed here on Earth because of the X-Men and the Avengers and their like — not because of any action taken here," Noh added as he reminded them of the most recent invasion. "In the estimation of most of the rest of the galaxy, your world is incredibly primitive," Noh told them frankly, his arms crossed. "You have no centralized, stable government; you fight among yourselves; you cannot go for five minutes without finding new ways to destroy each other." He gestured around the room. "You are fractured. Your governments change seemingly at whim, and there is no _stability_." He shook his head. "Your world still has so far to come, and you don't even know the threats you have faced."

"If not for the X-Men, you would be under the rule of the Kree, or perhaps the Skrulls or the Shi'ar. Certainly not your own rule," Noh said, still shaking his head. "And yet you stand here attacking them as if they are a threat to your sovereignty. Quite the opposite. They are the reason for it. The friendship that the Kree have extended to Earth, the reason I am here in this capacity, is not _your _doing, delegates. It is because the X-Men rallied to save my home planet from invasion, saved its people from enslavement and extinction. That was not _your _doing."

"If this world was left to its devices under its current fragmented and lifeless government, I can tell you from experience that it would be razed within days," Noh said. "My people trust the X-Men. That is why we are friends with Earth." He crossed his arms. "And we would consider any attempt to control them to be an affront to our friendship and trust. You are better than this — or you should be."

"So you're threatening war?" one of the delegates asked, to which Noh looked honestly surprised.

"My people have no wish to fight yours," Noh said. "I'm simply telling you the source of our friendship with Earth. The Kree don't forget their debts. I'm surprised you forget yours."

"This just proves our point," another delegate said. "The X-Men have too much power and no accountability. No group within a nation should be forming alliances and answering for the planet."

"Ah." Noh looked around the room. "And if this discussion were concerning the Avengers, perhaps the outlook would be different."

"_No _group should have that kind of power with no oversight," came the response.

Noh looked around the room and seemed honestly disappointed. "I came to speak to you about friendship and debts of gratitude, and you respond with calls for control." He shook his head. "You wonder why it is that the Kree ally themselves with the X-Men and the Avengers and yet you are missing a central tenet of what makes my Empire stand. We take care of our own. It is our code. You squabble over egos and meaningless perceived injustices and fail at every level to take care of those you are sworn to protect."

"Noh," Scott said, very quietly, so only Logan and Noh heard it, "stand down."

"You brought a representative of an invading race to insult this body and threaten the peace," one of the delegates said, turning Scott's way with a glare.

"The only person insulted in this room is you, and considering what you're accusing, and the time that you're wastin' doin' just that, you don't have much to stand on," Logan said, locked on to the delegate that had been causing all the trouble. "The fact of the matter is that _if _we had the power you're accusing us of, we wouldn't be havin' this discussion. There wouldn't _be _a question of mutant persecution because it wouldn't be happenin'. But since we're tryin' to do things peacefully, you think you can push and paint it up any way you like. Just keep in mind that anyone on the planet that's been paying attention in the past fifteen years knows you're full of it."

For a moment, there was silence, and then the committee chair cleared his throat. "Wolverine, you have not been recognized to speak."

"Sounds like I have been," Logan replied, still not having broken his focus on the guy.

Scott shook his head Logan's way, stowing the smirk before he turned toward the chair. "I can restate my friend's opinion for the record if it's a matter of procedure." When that actually got a smirk out of the chair, Scott nodded as Noh was seated. "Everything that the X-Men have done has been in defense of this world and in defense of those who can't find protection anywhere else. I'm just sorry to hear that this world isn't willing to defend us in return. But I'm not surprised." He took a deep breath. "The X-Men will continue to do as we have always done. If there ever comes a time that peaceful coexistence is a reality, then I'll be the first in line to retire. But as long as we are needed, we will be there. And we will defend you as well. That's what we've always done, and you know it."

With the close of the hearing, the three X-Men left, heading to the jet past the reporters and protesters, though there was hardly a word spoken between them until they were in the air.

"Please don't take this the wrong way," Noh said slowly, "but it's times like these that I wish _my _Empire was running things. This is… ridiculous. I cannot call it governance of any kind."

"No offense, Noh, but that's not helpful," Scott muttered.

Noh leaned back. "I'm sorry if my testimony made things more difficult for you. It wasn't my intention to suggest war."

"They were only going to hear what they already decided they'd hear," Scott said. He shook his head. "They don't have the legal grounds to force us to stop saving lives, or they'd have the language drafted. This was just an attempt to score points off of us."

"And it turned out so well," Noh said with a smirk Logan's way, though Logan kept his poker face firmly in place.

"So now," Scott said, "we wait for the fallout."

The flight back to Westchester was quiet the rest of the way back, though it was almost the icing on the cake when the first face they saw when they stepped into the kitchen was Billy's. Logan swore outright, totally resigned to going back out for something or another, and he stopped at the bottom of the steps and waited.

"That bad?" Scott asked.

Billy looked between them and raised both hands, his eyebrows high and his mouth slightly parted. "Oh. _No_. No, it's not that," he swore quickly.

"Yet," Logan growled out and started to stalk forward, ready to get out of the damn uniform already.

"No, it's my kids," Billy explained. "They, ah, well, the timing is pretty spectacular, but they've got their powers."

It took Scott a moment to switch gears from the political fallout to the new mutants as he turned Billy's way. "What?"

Billy shrugged. "They're in the rec room with Teddy and a few of the other kids." He smirked and waved a hand in front of his own face. "They're masters of illusion, apparently. And think it's hilarious to give themselves galaxies. Harry had one coming out of his nose every time he sneezed just… for the laughs, I guess."

"That's great, Billy," Scott said, though he sounded a bit distracted.

"Yeah, I know, timing," Billy said. "But hey, I thought you'd all want to know. And… well. I'm not sure if they'll go here or not, honestly. We're still talking about where they want to go… I'd prefer it if they stayed in New York so they can work with me and Dr. Strange learning magic as well as their illusions."

"I can talk to them, if that's what you want."

"Talk to Teddy," Billy said with a laugh. "They're both ready to be X-Men already. They already have the names."

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. Abracadabra. They even decided which is which. Thanks for that," Billy said, looking Logan's way as Logan put his arm around Scott's back, letting him lean on him.

"Tell Teddy to talk to Annie," Scott said with a smirk. "If he's still worried after two minutes with her, then he's being unreasonable."

Billy grinned at that and nodded before he disappeared down the hallway to go talk to his husband, leaving Scott and Logan alone again.

"If she can rope Billy into the conversation too, I wouldn't be surprised if she convinces them to join the staff either," Scott said under his breath to Logan as he leaned on him a bit more now that it was just them.

Logan nodded his head at that. "Likely."

Scott let out a breath as he tipped his head toward the hallway leading to his office and they headed down that way. "How long do you think before the surge of applications to come here?" he asked.

"Not what I'm concerned with. That surges every time you do an appearance."

"And it's always bigger than we expect when governments get involved," Scott pointed out.

"Not somethin' we can control."

Scott nodded as they got to his office and winced a bit as he got to his seat. "It could have been much worse, Logan," he said at last.

"Sure," he replied, nodding. "It can always get worse."

"I think the chair actually appreciated your shutdown of the questions," Scott said, smirking Logan's way.

"Doubt it's gonna have a positive impact, though."

"Not on the delegates," Scott agreed. "But it was broadcast internationally. And most people like to see jackasses get shut down on live television."

"Only if they actually _watch _it," Logan pointed out. "And nobody watches that crap unless they have to."

Scott leaned back in his chair a bit and nodded. "Fair enough," he said, then let out all his breath. "We're going to have our hands full, Logan. And I don't know if you've noticed, but I can't exactly run the way I did twenty years ago."

Logan looked up at him but didn't respond in the least other than to frown a little deeper.

"It's just going to keep going," Scott continued. "And I'm only going to get older, so I need to lean on you more, in the field, at least."

"If you say so, Slim."

Scott shook his head at Logan, though he was too tired to have that argument after Brussels. "Fine," he said. "Thanks, by the way. For the backup."

Logan shrugged. "I'm the right height for a crutch."

"Not what I meant."

"Right," Logan said, nodding once. "You know I got your back. Always do."


	3. Black Market Weapons

It hadn't even been more than two weeks before the reports started coming in of a new problem: a smuggling ring out of Madripoor that specialized in capturing mutants and selling them as 'weapons' to the highest bidder — terrorist groups, governments, militias, you name it.

"Like it's callin' my name," Logan muttered as he looked over the intel that Scott had out for the team.

"That's why I want you to head it up," Scott agreed.

"No better guide to Madripoor," Kurt agreed with a grin.

"The focus will be on getting the captured mutants out, but once you've done that, I want to know who the buyers are," Scott said. "I don't just want them destroyed; I want the records."

"Simple enough," Logan said. "Viper's the one runnin' the show, settin' up the auctions. I know her name's not on it, but this is her."

"Then get her list of clientele," Scott said.

"No problem," Logan said, nodding to himself.

Scott nodded and looked toward Sying and Krissy. "You two, stick close to Kurt — you're the fastest way out for these mutants." He gestured at the group as a whole. "And I don't have to tell you: stay safe. If they get their hands on an X-Man, _any _of you, it won't be pretty."

"Bamfs for everyone," Logan said. "If we have a buncha kids to move — that'd be the quickest way."

Scott nodded once. "Good. Once you're in the air when you're done — send me numbers. Hank will need to know how many to prepare to receive. "

Logan nodded and looked to the little group around himself. "No joking around. At all."

Krissy in particular seemed to nod with wide eyes. "Got it," she swore.

"We'll be back quick if we do our job right," Logan said before he got up and simply headed for the door.

The team followed him out quickly, and to their credit, the younger members seemed to pick up on just how serious this mission was, so there wasn't much in the way of joking around on the trip out, aside from Sying making sure that Elin saw it when he rolled his eyes _so hard _at Krissy and Chance.

Once they were strapped in and airborne, Logan turned to Kurt. "Fill 'em in on the finer points, if you don't mind."

Kurt nodded, sure to fill the rest of the time on the flight out telling the kids the more salient details on Madripoor, on what to expect with the kind of mission they were running — and _especially _on Viper, taking special care to tell them not to try to engage her.

"If you see green uniforms, get the hell out first and then radio it in," Logan clarified. "If she gets a dart on you, you're probably dead."

Kurt nodded his agreement. "And if you're not, then you'll find yourself part of this smuggling operation the hard way. This is _not _a mission you can just coast through."

"So here's the best plan I can come up with," Logan said after a few moments. "We go for the kids first. That's priority one. Then, while someone stays with them, I'll need some cover and maybe a distraction." He turned to look at the group. "I don't want any of you near the second half, because that's going to end up in Viper's penthouse."

"Then we can play distraction if we're not giving you cover," Chance offered.

"I can get the kids out fast," Sying said.

Logan nodded. "We'll all go for the kids — at least until they're on the way out. Use the bamfs."

"And _stay _in contact," Kurt said.

The rest of the flight, though short for the high altitude they were at, was silent, particularly since Logan was sure that the kids got to study the layout of the island nation and knew where they were hiding the jet and where the most likely spot for the kids was — since it was an auction and Viper had established places for that kind of thing. "This isn't going to be hidden away," Logan told them. "That's the kind of place Madripoor is. It's pure crime and drugs and anything that's illegal. They don't need to _hide _what they're doing."

"Then let's get going," Sying said. "Before the auction starts."

They landed the jet and broke off into smaller groups — with Chance and Sying with Logan and Elin and Krissy with Kurt. The ferals were sniffing out the buildings, and it wasn't long at all before Elin cringed at one of the large warehouses and rubbed her nose with the back of her hand. She pointed to the building, her hand still covering her face. "That place is full of that drug," she said to Kurt, though she kept going, scenting out what she could of the next warehouse.

"They did say crime-ridden," Krissy whispered to Elin.

"I know, but it's just … _a lot._" Elin pulled a face, but before they got past the next warehouse, Logan checked in.

"We've got it," he said quietly. "I'm sending the coordinates — but we've got all the trouble in here. Military from just about every uniform I can recognize right alongside _all _the nasties."

"Oh great," Krissy said though she clapped a hand on Elin's shoulder so that Elin went with her and Kurt as they teleported to meet up with the others.

"I brought some of James' smoke pellets," Chance offered. "You know. The black ones that stick to everything?"

"That'll be great to distract 'em," Logan said with a nod before he directed the group to break it up and find new positions to take up. The little group of X-Men had the building surrounded, and they were all watching to be sure of where the kids were — nearly a dozen in all, so it wouldn't be an instant snatch and grab operation.

There were six bamfs along to get any one of the team out if they went down, even if they all went down at once, but on seeing the numbers below, Logan was wishing he'd brought more, since once the tablets hit, they'd still be short a few hands, even if Kurt could take more than one at a time.

"Alright, guys, I think I got it," Logan said at last. "Can you get two, Elf?"

"Oh, without a doubt. I'd take more if they could grab a hold of me, but seeing as they are all drugged …" Kurt faded off.

"That's fine. Krissy — follow your dad, bring all the bamfs with you, and all of you grab one," Logan said. "I know you can probably do two, but I don't want you to overdo it, and I want you able to fight if you have to." He took a breath and continued, sure to keep going before there were questions. "Sying, you can get a straight shot in — drop the pellets when you do and grab one of 'em. Elin and I will make the run for the last three while Chance lays down fire." He turned to Chance. "You got infrared on you or do we need to send a bamf back to the jet?"

"Oh, I — I didn't bring infrared, sorry," Chance said.

"Didn't know we needed it until now," Logan told him. "Should be one on the jet." He turned to the bamf on his shoulder. "Go get the goggles you use to steal Kurt's whiskey." The little bamf looked properly insulted for a moment before Logan gave him an incredibly dry look. "Don't you try to lie about it; you're not in trouble. Just _go_. You know _exactly _what I'm talking about."

The bamf let out a put-upon sigh but disappeared all the same, returning with the goggles to present to Chance a few moments later.

"How long have they been using night vision to steal my whiskey?" Kurt asked with a troubled frown.

"Not the time, Elf," Logan said, shaking his head as Chance got the infrared set up for use.

"I'm ready when you guys are," Chance said as he settled in.

"There'll be a bamf for you as soon as the kids are out," Logan told him. "Just cover us if they start in, got it?"

"Got it," Chance said with a sharp nod.

"Then, once they're out — Sying, I want you and Krissy to take Chance across the street from the Princess Bar and blow something up. Doesn't matter what it is. Just blow it up and then get the hell away from it fast."

"Not a problem," Sying agreed, flicking a little plasmoid off the end of his fingernail with a smirk.

"There will be ninjas," Logan warned as he and Elin headed down to make their rush.

"And they will be properly impressed with my explosion," Sying promised.

"Still not the time to joke," Logan warned.

"Slipped out."

"Elf, count it down for the kid."

Kurt nodded as the kids got into position, and on the word 'go', all of them burst into action. In a flash, Sying took off and threw the pellets at the congregated group of buyers — and the few guards and snipers that he saw within the building acting as security — before he grabbed the first kid. He'd barely gotten his charge over his shoulder before the bamfs and the Wagners appeared to join in the fun, grabbing a kid apiece, except Kurt got two.

In a swirl of smoke, they were gone, just as Elin and Logan showed up to clean up the rest. The two ferals were nearly out of the door when gunfire erupted and the order was given to seal the room, making them rush against the clock to get _out._

That was when Sying's fantastic explosion went off several blocks down, with screaming colors that they could see for miles out that was practically a signed confession that Jubilee or Sying was there.

Elin very nearly dropped her rescue when a little bamf appeared inches from her face along with a few friends — and just like that, she and the kids she'd rescued with her father were gone in a poof right to the blackbird.

Kurt joined Logan, and a few quick 'ports had the two senior team members outside of Viper's penthouse and watching her stew from across the street until she finally stormed out, shouting orders all the way. They shared a look and, in an instant, they were in the room Viper had just left — though Kurt was smart enough to stay still as Logan searched. There was no telling if the woman had something rigged.

And in the meantime, Sying, Krissy, and Chance had their hands full keeping the bad guys away from the jet and the rescued kids. Krissy had teleported with Chance, and Sying had run to catch up after the explosion, but even putting some serious distance between them and the auction, they were still met with plenty of ninjas.

"I can almost see why Mama likes Japan runs," Krissy said as she spun with both swords out to stop several of the ninjas in their tracks.

"We're not supposed to be joking right now," Sying said with a smirk her way, though he was grinning to himself too — and so was Chance. For as serious as they were trying to be, there really was something about the three of them against large odds that was fun.

Elin had gone to take care of the dozen kids that had been kidnapped — quickly scanning the whole group to be sure there were no trackers inside of them — since that really seemed like the kind of thing that Viper would do, if the stories she'd heard were true. All of the kids were doped up, and she was nervous when she realized that they all had trace amounts of the drug they'd been chasing in their system.

The door to the blackbird was open, and that was the only reason that Elin was tipped off that they were in trouble — the simple fact that she saw movement that she knew meant approaching ninjas. She grumbled to herself and headed for the back of the plane where she knew her father kept a few weapons and pulled out a wakizashi as she hit her comm. "Ninjas at the jet," she said. "I'm protecting our cargo."

"Keep your comm on," Logan advised, though his voice was low and quiet, since he was still digging through Viper's office.

"Do you want me or Sying as backup?" Krissy asked over the comm.

"If you're done being distracting, go help her," Logan told her.

"On it," Krissy said a moment before she teleported to Elin's position and quickly shot a smile her friend's way. "The boys can be distracting on their own."

"Just waiting for them to come out," Elin said as she kept her sword at the ready, glaring out into the dark.

Krissy nodded and stood by her friend, both of her swords drawn before there was a rush of air and the boys arrived. Sying set Chance down and shook his head. "_Lots _of ninjas," he explained.

Elin turned to the bamf on her shoulder and told him to lock down the plane. "We didn't come here to lose them," she told him moments before the ninjas materialized from all angles and the fight started.

They were fighting hard in a sea of black fabric when Elin spoke up — though it took a moment for Krissy to realize she was talking to Logan. "We have a few ninjas here."

"Kurt'll be there in a sec," Logan said, though there was a short pause before Kurt did appear, clearly agitated and with all three swords drawn. "Just need to break the safe."

"You sure you couldn't use a plasmoid entrance?" Sying offered.

"Nope," Logan said as a muted _snikt _rang out over the comms — followed closely by an alarm.

"Okay then," Sying muttered, going back to the fight against the large army of ninjas.

The group at large was doing a lot of damage, but the ninjas just seemed to keep coming — pushing the kids away from each other subtly until Elin realized what was happening. "We need to stay together!"

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the ninjas switched from attack to swarm. At the same time, the explosion in Viper's penthouse was visible from where the group at the plane was still fighting. It was clear that this was going to be a full action mission one way or another.

Sying managed to break a ninja's arm when they tried to hold him down — and Chance shot one point blank — before Krissy realized that Elin wasn't where she should have been.

"Ellie!" she called out, her eyes wide before she simply started teleporting all over the place trying to find where her friend had gone. "Papa, I can't see her!"

"I can trace her comm!" Sying suggested, looking determined as he zipped through his group of ninjas — and Kurt shouted something in German that had the bamfs pulling the junior team back toward the jet.

"Find her," he said in a harsh tone before he teleported out to grab Logan, who he was sure had found himself in trouble.

It took Sying only a second to find Elin's comm. "She's close," he said before he relayed the information to Krissy so that she could teleport herself and Chance there — once she bridged the gap of ninjas to get to him too.

But he ran ahead to where Elin was being carried off — and the uniforms were green. "Oh. Crap." Sying's eyes were wide as he relayed to Kurt that Hydra had Elin, though with Kurt distracted by finding Logan….

"Don't let them keep her," Kurt said. "Snatch her and run."

Sying nodded. "Got it," he said before he dove in, blasting back half of the green soldiers with a plasmoid before he broke the arms of the soldiers holding Elin and hoisted her over his shoulder, taking a few hits in the process that he hadn't even felt for the adrenaline until after he ran back to the jet to set Elin down.

He glanced down at himself and twisted around a bit, seeing how bad the damage was before he just let out a noise of frustration and rushed back to help Krissy and Chance, outright ignoring the shots.

When Kurt caught up to Logan, he was staggering, claws out with a wide stance and surrounded by soldiers and ninjas alike. He'd clearly been fighting for a while, but the soldiers were closing in, and Logan was losing steam.

With a growl, Kurt bounded over the soldier's heads with a few 'ports for assistance before he snagged Logan around the neck and disappeared with him. "Get on the jet; be ready to fly _now,_" Kurt shouted through the comms.

A moment later, as the jet fired up, Kurt appeared in the middle of the jet, doing his best to support Logan — who wasn't unconscious but seriously uncoordinated and clutching to a ledger in one hand. "Get us in the air," Kurt called out to Chance, who was nearest the cockpit.

"Got it," Chance said quickly, scrambling to get to the controls and gun it out of there.

Kurt maneuvered Logan into a seat and tried to ask him to let go of the book, but that just wasn't going to happen, even though he was barely keeping his eyes open. "How did you all do?" Kurt asked, moving from trying discussing the book Logan refused to let him even _touch_ to assessing his friend and the kids in the jet.

Krissy gestured toward the two other kids almost breathlessly, to where Sying had just finished double-checking to make sure an unconscious Elin was okay. "Make him take care of himself, Papa," she said in a tone that said she had failed at it already.

"Sying," Kurt said in a hard tone. "We have enough trouble as it is."

Sying paused and looked Kurt's way, and then at Krissy, before he scrunched up his shoulders and let out a little sigh, sitting down heavily. "She's not waking up, but I don't think she got hit in the head like before," he explained.

Kurt gestured to Logan, who was losing the fight to stay awake. "Viper knows how to prepare for them."

"The kids from the auction were drugged too," Krissy said quietly. She had some water and her own supplies from trying to deal with them while Sying took care of Elin in hand.

"Yes," Kurt said, nodding to himself. "And they'll likely rouse before these two. The men that were around him weren't trying to kill him."

"What's in the book?" Sying asked, pulling out a few candy bars from the emergency stash.

"If I had to guess," Kurt replied, watching his friend — and the fact that even when he was out, he wasn't letting go. "I'd say exactly what Scott wanted to see."

Sying nodded and then leaned back. "What a mission," he muttered Krissy's way, and she gave him a little smile in return.

Kurt checked the kids, Logan, and Elin one more time before he headed toward the cockpit to take up the open seat near chance and hail Scott. "We're en route with an even dozen new passengers."

"I'll let Hank know. How's the team?"

Kurt let out a sigh. "Sying was injured — and is healing. Elin and Logan both are unconscious."

"I'll let Hank know that too," Scott replied with a sigh on the other end.

"If it helps, Viper's penthouse is in flames," Kurt told him.

"You know, that part doesn't surprise me either, Kurt," Scott said dryly.

"Then let me reassure you that the two Howletts' injuries are not related in the least."

There was a pause, and then a sigh. "We'll cover it in the debrief. Just get everyone home safe."

"See you soon," Kurt said before he cut the connection and grinned at Chance. "It would have been rude not to give him something to think about."

Chance just grinned back at Kurt and shrugged. "Hey, I'm with him. I'm not surprised there was arson either."

"No one is surprised at that," Kurt laughed. "I'm just curious as to how he managed such a sizeable explosion with so little flammable in the room."

"We'll ask him when he's awake," Chance said, then tipped his head. "Want to copilot or stay with the kids? Because I'm fine either way."

"I'm sure you are," Kurt replied before he glanced back at the kids. "I'll stay here for now — and check them again in a bit. I'm sure Krissy will let me know if there are any changes."

With that, the group of them more or less settled in for the flight back, though once a few of the former prisoners started to rouse a bit from the sedatives about five minutes out from the institute, there was some quick explaining and calming to be done.

"I'll take the landing," Kurt told Chance. "You, Krissy, and Sying can handle explaining and giving them water. It's good practice."

Chance nodded and switched over the controls before he climbed back to where Krissy was already sitting in between the two youngest kids. Though it was Sying who seemed to have the better handle on what to tell the panicked mutants, sitting down across from them and evenly explaining where they were without trying to engage them while they got their bearings.

Chance sat down with his friends and quickly started passing out water bottles as they encouraged the kids to get something to drink and get the drugs washed out of their system a little faster, so that at least by the time they landed, their passengers weren't quite so panicked.

Hank was ready and waiting for them once they'd touched down in the hangar, and with some gentle direction, the whole group of kids were headed to the lab, with Sying in tow as Scott told the others to follow Kurt to the War Room to debrief while K climbed aboard to watch over her family for the time being.

"I'm sure you'll have another debrief once these two wake up," K promised them.

"Just send them my way when they're ready," Scott said.

"I'll text Kurt and the kids too," K said as she looked over Elin. "They both were hit with different drugs — in case you were wondering."

"Kurt did say they were unrelated."

"Well, he wasn't wrong," she agreed, then headed to the back of the plane, only to return with a couple of blood draw kits. "I'm sure Hank will want to know all he can."

"Thanks, K," Scott said before he headed to the War Room with the two Wagners.

It wasn't until several hours later that Logan and Elin did wake up, and by that time, Hank had finished working with the dozen mutants that had come their way, and Annie and Kate had even tag-teamed to get them set up with accommodations, so the house was relatively quiet by then, even some of the younger kids already down for the night.

Logan had woken up with a start, and when he did, K was sure to grab a hold of his hands and draw his attention to her. Elin was groggy but not nearly as reactive as Logan. "Everyone is home. Kurt got you out," she told him before she was sure to take the ledger out of his hand. "Are you ready to explain this thing?"

Logan took a moment and nodded before K helped him to his feet. The two of them waited for Elin — and K put herself between both of them on the way out of the jet. She decided to get them both to the War Room before she texted Scott, knowing that he'd be there in no time anyhow.

Sure enough, Scott made his way down a few moments later and nodded her way with a little 'thanks, K,' though he raised an eyebrow and tipped his head toward the ledger Logan had. "What've you got?"

"Everything you asked for — and a little bit more," Logan told him before he finally let go of the battered tablet and slid it across the table along with a flash drive that he'd been holding with the ledger. "Don't touch it without heavy gloves" Logan warned. "All the contacts and sources. And a detailed, itemized list of bounties for different types of mutants in addition to individuals. All of them are capture, not kill."

Scott let out a breath of frustration — not at Logan, just at the situation in general. "I doubt we'll be surprised by the list," he muttered, though he was already sitting down to look over some of it. "What else? Did you run into Viper or just her men?"

"Yes," Logan said. "She came back in once she realized who was on the island. Came to protect her intel."

"Well, that worked out well for her," Scott said dryly without looking up from what he was reading over, turning the pages with a sharpened pencil to avoid touching it. "Both Chance and Krissy said there was military there, several different uniforms. Any you recognized?"

"Yeah, I'll make you a list," Logan told him. "Not all of them are who you'd expect either."

Scott looked up at that. "Yeah? That'd be the first thing you've said that's surprised me."

"You probably already guessed the usual suspects of nutjob countries, right?" Logan said, not really pausing before he continued. "Add to it a lot of their more reasonable neighbors."

Scott leaned back a bit and let out a breath. "As soon as one of them goes public, it's going to be a race to get more public mutants, Logan."

"It's already a race," Logan told him. "They weren't really hiding. It wasn't _that _auction spot." He gestured to the ledger. "This was the one that you can actually see on satellite."

"Then this has been building up since before the UN panel — not that I'm surprised," Scott muttered.

"What makes you think it ever stopped?" Logan asked with a sigh.

"I like to experiment with a healthy dose of optimism every once in a while," Scott said dryly. "Doesn't seem to take, for some reason."

"Sounds like a good way to get beat down and disappointed."

Scott almost smirked Logan's way. "Maybe, but it keeps my wife happy," he said, cracking into a small smile at that.

Logan smirked just a bit. "Lucky me, mine's as paranoid as I am."

Scott just laughed and shook his head. "Thanks, Logan. I'll let you know if there's anything in here that needs following up," he said, going back to the ledger.

Logan stood up and headed out, one hand on the back of Elin's neck as they left Scott to his work.

Like Logan had said, the list of countries and militaries involved that Scott was seeing was far more extensive than just a few rogue states. It went right down the line in every continent of just about every country looking to flex its muscles — and even a few that didn't usually fit the bill.

And of course, the list of who and what they were looking for was completely unsurprising. Given Logan and K's history with Canada's government, they were right at the top - but so were any mutants with healing abilities, anyone that could be made to keep going fight after fight. Anyone with destructive powers was also high on the list, and Scott wasn't surprised that anyone on the team had a much higher bounty on their heads as well.

For some clients, even, _any _mutant would do — for those that would be outbid for the more powerful ones. Even being able to say that they had mutants in their programs…

Scott leaned back and rubbed his forehead. This really wasn't any kind of progress. They'd gone from being hunted for extermination to being hunted as weapons and assets — not that it hadn't been the case before, but it was a much stronger push.

It was going to turn into an arms race the way this was going, as soon as the first country announced its programs publicly.


	4. Oh Great; Now There's Two of Them

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> apologies for being so slow on posting. Something has happened to my brain now that I've gone and signed up for NaNoWriMo ... apparently I'm temporarily allergic to opening the documents to even edit. I'm sure it'll pass.

James was in the game room, his feet over the back of the couch and his head hanging down off of the cushions — just … lying there. Considering his other options, that one seemed like the most interesting.

"So I guess when you can heal, the whole 'blood rushing to your head' thing isn't as horrible," Cody said as he sat down beside him.

"Well, in all fairness, I don't have to worry about my head actually exploding out lasers," James replied. "What do you do when you sneeze now?"

Cody smirked and shrugged. "Same as always? Close my eyes?"

"Blow everyone away?"

"Uh-huh," Cody said. He lifted his glasses up slightly and grinned. "Nothing right now, though," he said before he set them back down.

"Too bad. Might make it interesting," James replied.

"Make what interesting?" Kari asked. The blue smoke around her hadn't even cleared as she perched on a couch nearby.

James spread his arms out, somehow not jostling his position. "Anything. Anything at all."

Kari tipped her head to the side. "Alright. You're mad."

"No, just … stuck," James said. "I can't go to the tower unless Tony's there now. Which is dumb. But … whatever."

"Right, because of the bounties," Cody said.

"You know Elin's not allowed on missions either?" James said, looking at Cody. "It's like we get to be grounded for everyone else being jerks."

"That can't last forever, right?" Kari asked. "I mean, it's just because there's a big push on, isn't it? It's not like this wasn't _always _a problem. That's what my papa said, anyway."

"It's looking worse because it's not just the usual idiots. It's pretty much everyone."

Kari frowned and then redirected and smiled lightly. "Well, you're just so loveable. Everyone wants to get a piece of you," she teased him, trying to get a smirk at least.

"Yeah, except they just want me for my mutation."

"I think you mean 'for my body' if you're going to do the complaint right," Cody said with a smirk.

"No…. I'm pretty sure it's a genetic thing," James shot back.

Kari teleported over to where James was and sat on the couch with him, tipping her head over the side as well so they were face to face. "So. Who should we hit while you're cooped up?" she asked.

He shrugged lightly. "Doesn't matter. I can't hit anyone that has it really coming."

"But it's the perfect cure for boredom," Kari pointed out. "Let's … I don't know … steal all the left shoes in the locker room during team practice. Just the left ones."

"Why just the left ones?" Cody asked.

"Because they're not right," Kari said with a grin his way.

"That was horrible."

"I know. Blame my uncle."

"You're ridiculous," James said before he grabbed a pillow and smacked her lightly in the face.

Kari grinned at him even as she toppled off the couch and sat up straight. "But you both love me, so you're stuck with me, aren't you?"

"It's not stuck if it's voluntary," James replied.

Kari reached over to hit him in the shoulder. "Then that's down to taste, isn't it?"

"I thought it was genetic," Cody said dryly.

"It is — _Hey_. What's the story with the little girl from Mexico that's been following you around?" James asked, quickly switching the subject.

Cody shrugged, though he turned a bit red. "Oh, Alexa's just … new."

"And cute. And interested," James ticked off.

"And as soon as I start dating, there will be jokes I'll never live down," Cody grumbled.

"What are you waiting for? The laser face training wheels to come off?"

"It does kind of make the kissing thing easier if you can, you know, see each other's faces?" Cody pointed out.

"Oh wow, he went right to kissing, James," Kari whispered with a troublemaking smile.

"You're supposed to close your eyes anyhow, goober," James pointed out. "But hey. Maybe it's different for you."

"I really wouldn't know," Cody muttered, turning even redder.

"So you should find out," Kari said with a little smile. "It's not so bad."

"Or … you could just hang out with her too," James added, deciding to give Cody a life raft.

"That's what I've been doing," Cody said.

"Not alone. And not around your friends that want to see you … well. Dating. Someone."

Cody shrugged. "I've got time," he said. "And … I dunno. I don't want to be my brother."

"I can't _wait _for Monday," James said with his eyes closed. "Mostly because I get to sit through classes with your dad … so I can see this train wreck up close."

"It's not _that _bad of a train wreck," Kari assured Cody with a hand on his arm.

"Might be by Thursday," James sang.

"You guys have such faith in me," Cody said dryly.

Kari giggled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. "Go get her, Cody. She's cute."

* * *

Considering the current climate, the kids were starting to get a bit of cabin fever. It was the worst with the Howletts, but everyone was on higher alert.

So they were seriously looking forward to the Halloween party — this one was in Chicago, since they rotated every year where it was being held. Kari and James were perfectly tickled when Cody did end up asking Alexa to go to the dance with him, and then Kari just about fell apart giggling when Zoe showed up to ask James to the dance — as himself.

"We'll be the envy of everybody," she assured James with a wicked grin on her borrowed face.

"Do you have any costume ideas that _I _should try to work around? I mean … I'm not sure what the right answer is to _this_," James said, though he was smirking at her as he gestured to her.

"Hmm." Zoe tipped her head to the side. "I think we should just go as you… but one of us should be the evil doppleganger. Goatee and all."

"Oh, I want that one," James said.

"Oh good, because I'm still not very good at facial hair," Zoe said, smiling as she shifted back into herself.

"Great. Or … we could just wear different colored shirts. Subtle, since I don't have anything close to a beard."

"Oh come on," Zoe said with a little sigh. "Everyone knows evil dopplegangers have goatees."

"Unless they're just dressed really nice," James argued. "Baby-faced evil."

Zoe let out a sigh. "Alright. Make sure to slick your hair back and wear a suit then. Corporate evil."

James laughed outright. "Sure. Slick it back. _That'll _work."

"It paints a picture," she said. She started to smirk. "Besides, that's what most of the evil my mother fights looks like."

"Alright; I can grow it out a little. Maybe it'll lay down better that way."

Zoe grinned at him. "Perfect," she said. "See you there! I'll be the 'you' in flannel."

"You already stole one, didn't you?" James asked as she walked away.

"Oh, absolutely," Zoe said, grinning his way. "I come from a long line of thieves and assassins, my friend."

"Yeah, and we're just all sweetness and sunshine, right?" James asked with a frown.

"Oh, I hope not," Zoe said with a smile. "That would be so dull."

James shook his head at her before he turned to Kari. "What about you? Do you have a date picked out yet? Or are you just going to go between Zoe and I?"

"I mean, I could," Kari pointed out. "If you're the same person…"

"Unless you have better plans, of course."

"Well, I was thinking about asking Cadabra," Kari admitted. "I don't think he has a date yet."

"Sounds like a magical evening."

"Oh come on. Two Hawkeyes in the room and _you're _the one that made that joke?" Zoe snorted.

James grinned back at her. "It … was just _sitting _there."

Zoe rolled her eyes at that. "It was," she said, shaking her head.

"You were the one to set it up, and she was too slow," James said. "Not sorry."

"Nor should you be," Kari said with a laugh before she waved at them both. "I'm going to go find Harry," she said before she disappeared in a poof of blue.

* * *

The costume party in Chicago came complete with mood lighting from Storm, as always, and even the kids from Canada came this year, so it was pretty well attended.

As the kids were getting older, they were starting to pair off, too — though Harry and Kari were threatening to steal the show with Harry's illusion that they were dancing on the air as Fred and Ginger. Sying and Penny were definitely a sight to see as well, since he had been teaching her how to ballroom dance, and the two of them couldn't stop grinning at each other the longer they spun out on the floor, looking absolutely stunning as Cinderella and Prince Charming.

Elin and Nolan were sticking with the theme of more or less beautiful couples as Antony and Cleopatra — even if Nolan wasn't dancing as much — Krissy and Chance had gone the "joke costume" route and ended up with Chance as Star Lord and Krissy as a beautiful, curly-haired, red-jacket-wearing Kitty.

"I dunno, James; I think we're still the prettiest in the land," Zoe said as she made her way over in her flannel.

"You have such a weird sense of humor," James replied, dressed much more dapper with his hair slicked back — as requested.

"Uh, have you met my parents?" Zoe pointed out with a crooked smile. "Come on. Let's go mess with Fred and Ginger."

"Split up and start the 'hello hello' gags?"

"It's like you read my mind," Zoe laughed, already waving at him before she zipped off to go say 'hello' to Kari and Harry.

James took a different route and was sure to flirt with a few girls he didn't know on the way. Though he wasn't the only one making it a point to flirt around, since Gerry had come prepared with his Zorro costume to sweep ladies off their feet — particularly if it looked like no one had asked them to dance and they wanted to.

He had just finished up a dance with Scott's niece, Nadia, when he spotted James and grinned on his way over. "She talked you into it, huh?"

"Not like it was hard to do or like I had any other offers," James said with a shrug. "Besides … little bit of troublemaking; what harm can it do?"

"I hear that," Gerry said with a grin before he waved James off. "Treat yourself right for me, huh?" he laughed over his shoulder.

"I'm the evil twin — no promises!"

Gerry laughed again before he headed off to where some of the Canadian students were, since they didn't know as many people, and he was trying to do some friendly outreach. He had already asked a few of the girls in that group to dance, so he went up to the skinny brunette sitting by the wall with a beaming grin and an offer to dance.

For Gerry, it was just one dance out of the whole night, but for Jamie, it was just what she was looking for. She'd seen the fact that the tall, lanky blonde was friendly with all of the Westchester kids, not to mention that he was clearly a white hat type, taking care of the quieter types, even coaxing a younger boy into asking a girl his age to a dance.

She was pretty sure that was _exactly _what Viper had asked her to look for.

She waited until he had finished talking to one of the two mini-Wolverines roving the dance floor — this one in flannel — before she slid up to him. "How do you know which is which?" she asked him, honestly curious.

"Well, it helps to be related to one of them," Gerry said with an easy smile.

"Just the one?" she asked.

He laughed out loud. "Oh, right. No, no. One of them is my sister."

"I… what?"

"Shapeshifter," he explained, and she nodded her understanding. That made much more sense.

"They still look alike to me, though," she said.

"Yeah, I probably wouldn't be able to tell them apart if I didn't know she'd asked him to play his evil twin self."

"Ah. Insider information," Jamie said with a smirk.

"Exactly." Gerry grinned at her. "Don't worry about it. They do this kind of stuff all the time. Not always together, mind you, but hey, it's hilarious."

"And you're sure they haven't switched costumes on you?" Jamie asked, smirking.

Gerry stopped and paused to think about it. "You know, I wouldn't put it past them," he admitted.

"Even your own sister? She'd still be able to fool you?"

"Well, I go here; I don't spend as much time in Westchester," Gerry said with a sheepish smile. "And she lives with my dad."

"Ah," Jamie said, nodding her understanding. "I get that. I have a couple older sisters I've never even met."

"Sorry to hear it."

"That's alright," Jamie said with a smile. "Every family is different."

Gerry shrugged as he led her off the dance floor. "Yeah, I guess. Still love 'em, though."

"Thanks for making me feel included," she told him.

He broke into a smile her way. "Anytime," he said. "These are supposed to be fun."

Her smile only widened at that. "Save a dance for me?"

"Sure," he said, grinning her way before he headed off to go find someone else to pry off of being a wallflower to dance and have a little fun.

* * *

The weekend after the dance, Jamie was able to steal away for a couple days and see Viper, to report not only on how she was doing with her project but on the group of X-Men and their children that she'd finally been able to peer into during the get-together.

"For a lot of the older kids, it's _so _easy to tell who belongs to who," she said. "They look just like their parents. Obviously, Nightcrawler's are easiest to pick out, but there were two boys who looked just like Cyclops — and Wolverine and K … though one of the mini-Wolverines is a shapeshifter. I didn't get a picture of what she really looks like, sorry."

Viper picked up the tablet she'd brought with her and took her time going through the photos, stopping here and there, and of course she paused and glanced up at Jamie when the pictures of Logan's kids came through. "Is this all you have?"

"Everything is on the tablet," Jamie said with a nod.

"And did you find anyone that you can work on?" Viper asked, momentarily setting aside the tablet.

Jamie broke into a smile that looked almost proud. "His name is Gerry Drew," she said. "He's the tall blonde in the pictures dressed as Zorro."

Viper stopped cold for a moment before she picked up the tablet again and flipped through until she found Zorro. "Oh, I didn't realize he would look so much like his father." She tutted to herself. "That should make the next part easier, I'm sure."

"He's exactly what you asked me to find," Jamie said excitedly. "He spent the entire dance asking girls who looked lonely or who didn't have dates…"

"Just like his father, then," Viper said. "How quaint."

"Well, you did tell me to find a white hat type," Jamie pointed out.

"Yes, you did well. You found a mini-Hawkeye."

"He doesn't want to be a hero, though," Jamie said with a sigh.

"I find that hard to believe," Viper said. "It's such a tic in the family."

She shook her head. "No, we've been emailing since the dance. He's studying to get into med school," she said. "I suppose that could be counted as heroic… he wants to be a surgeon."

"Oh," Viper almost breathed out. "Oh … that _is _interesting." A slow smile started to stretch across her face. "So he managed to get his mother's brains. And hopefully a little curiosity."

"And some of her powers," Jamie said. "At least, I saw some super strength at the dance, though he does some weird light manipulation that I don't think anyone else can do."

"That's nice dear," Viper said with a wave. "_Light_ isn't terribly earth-shattering."

Jamie let out a breath and nodded. "So, like I said, I've been emailing him. I think I'll go down to Chicago, try to convince him to come visit me in Canada a few times as well…"

"Except … his mother is quite dear to me," Viper said slowly. "Perhaps he can pick up where dear sweet Jessica lost the nerve."

Jamie frowned a bit Viper's way. "I … don't know that I understand," she admitted.

"Jessica Drew," Viper said in an almost irritated tone. "One of your sisters, dear."

Jamie's eyes widened, and she looked down at the picture of Gerry as Zoro before she let her shoulders slump. "Oh. That … changes everything. And I put in all that work…"

"Oh, but my sweet girl, it really doesn't change much," Viper promised as she reached over and rested her hand on Jamie's wrist. "We'll still need to bring him in, of course. Only perhaps we can make it easier. Chicago is such a big city …"

Jamie nodded slowly. "I'll send you the date and location of our next date?"

"No, dear, I'll send you the location."

"Right," Jamie said, nodding quickly. She took a deep breath and considered Viper for a moment before she let it out again. "I'll be waiting for your word."


	5. Missing: One Barton Boy

When Jamie met up with Gerry that next weekend in Chicago, it was at a restaurant that neither of them had ever been to, but Jamie talked him into it with the promise of "good reviews" that she'd read online. And honestly, the food was terrific — not that Jamie was all that surprised. Her guardian had good taste.

"Okay, I gotta admit, this was a good pick," Gerry said with a grin Jamie's way.

She smirked at him and nodded. "I told you: I heard good things!"

"Yeah, well, you're not from here," Gerry pointed out. "And that can be dicey."

"Sounds like we lucked out," Jamie said, then leaned forward with a wicked smile. "Don't worry. If it had turned out to be shady, we could have gone to get pizza. I mean, it's _Chicago_."

"I actually … am not a fan," Gerry admitted with a shrug. "I mean, I grew up in New York eating pizza all the time with my dad. You know — the right kind of pizza."

"Oh, so you're one of those New York pizza snobs?" she teased him.

"Come on, like you're that invested. You're not from here either, remember?"

"No, but you've been here how long?"

"Just for high school," he said, shrugging again.

"And you still haven't explored," she said, shaking her head. "Such a shame."

Gerry laughed. "Hey, I spend the summers touring the world with my mom — you know, around the baseball season. I feel like I get out enough that I'm not a homebody; give me _some _credit here."

"Not the same as playing in the city you live in during the school year," she pointed out.

"I'm a little busy during the school year," he countered. "You know: trying to get ready to apply for college next year _and _attend a school that has alien tech classes in its curriculum? Fun times."

She shook her head at him. "I still think you should get out more."

At that, Gerry outright grinned at her. "Yeah, I probably should." He paused as their dessert arrived and then pointed a spoon her way. "You should too, you know. I bet there's plenty to see up north."

"Snow … snow … little bit of ice, and … beavers."

"Hey, I happen to like the snow," Gerry said. "But I'm not a fan as much of the whole 'shorter days' thing." He held the spoon out to let the light dance off of it with his powers. "It's easier to play with light when there's, you know, _light_?"

She tipped her head to the side for a moment. "Yeah, I can see that. But … what about the northern lights? Think you could do anything with that?"

Gerry's face lit up as he considered it. "Hey, you know, I bet I could," he said. "It took me a while to figure out rainbows — you have to split the light just right — but I bet I could." He grinned around a spoonful of dessert.

"How do you like the tiramisu?" she asked. "The reviews said this was the best place in the city for it."

"It's definitely good," Gerry agreed. "You want to try a bite?"

"I'm good with the cannoli." She gave him a warm smile. "But thanks for the offer."

He grinned at her brilliantly. "Your loss," he said, going back to the dessert, though it wasn't long before the usually vibrant grin started to drop considerably.

Jamie didn't act as though anything was amiss, simply nibbling away at her cannoli and talking about how wonderful the Canada school was as Gerry very slowly started to drift. By the time he really realized something was wrong, he was too out of it to even get his phone out, and in a moment, he simply leaned sideways into the corner of the booth and fell unconscious.

As soon as he was out, things started to happen very quickly. Jamie was sure to follow her guardian's instructions to remain in her seat and make sure to drink the rest of her beverage as Viper's men swept in and collected him. She tried her best to look like it didn't rattle her, but honestly, how could it not?

Jamie found herself wondering if the instructions Viper had given her were a lesson on image or a matter of antidotes. Either way, she carefully finished her glass, and once Gerry was gone — as well as his place setting — she got up, collected her purse and walked out of the front doors and into the chauffeured limo waiting out front.

"Everything went as planned, I take it?" Viper said from the other side of the car.

Jamie nodded quickly. "Just like you said it would."

"Perfect. On to a bit of coercion now, my dear," she replied easily.

* * *

When Gerry woke up again, he still felt a little fuzzy, and the room he found himself in was dimmer than the restaurant where he'd just been eating with Jamie. With a groan, he pushed himself up and looked around, but he didn't see her either.

"Jamie?" he called out, frowning harder when there was no answer.

It wasn't exactly what he'd call a cell, necessarily. It had a bed and everything — no windows, though. And it had that sort of oppressive underground feeling that Gerry got whenever the light was _only _artificial and filtered. Though honestly, that meant he could have been anywhere.

"And… yep, phone's gone. It's official; I'm screwed," Gerry muttered to himself as he checked himself and his surroundings. There was just the one door — though he wasn't surprised in the least to find that it was locked.

Gerry hesitated for just a second before he took a deep breath and put his shoulder to the door, breaking it down on the second try and just about tearing it off its hinges in the process. Which was not exactly a sneaky escape, now that he thought about it — and there were men in green in the hallway. So that was pretty bad.

Reacting more than anything else, Gerry reached out to the light in the hallway and pulled it down around him so that none of the men could see him at all. He'd perfected this little trick back when he was at Westchester — not even infrared would work. There was just… no light. None. At all.

The _really _tricky part was making it so that Gerry could still see. It was a complicated bit of maneuvering that meant the light could reach him but bounced off of anything else… Hank had helped him figure it out, and both of his parents had worked out the angles with him. But it was still really hard to maintain on the best of days — and with Hydra baddies all around him, it really, _really _wasn't the best of days.

He wasn't very good at fighting, though, and that was the main problem here. He could evade and escape detection plenty, but it was more or less a numbers game, and unless he wanted to go back to the room he'd just broken out of, the only way out was through a wall of green guys. Of course, he had the _basics_. He knew how to throw a solid punch, and Dad had made sure he could shoot a bow since he was, like, five. But that was really not that helpful against the dozen or so guys between him and the hallway that had to lead out of there. Even blinded, once he bumped into the first of them, that was it: the rest of them were on him.

Not that it wasn't _so very satisfying _to make them work for it and stumble around in the dark trying to get their hands on him. Or hitting a few of them with some superpowered punches to the gut that were just not nice no matter how much training he had. It was just that he was outnumbered and totally outmatched, and the fight was over _way _faster than he had meant it to be when one of them finally got a solid hold on him and wrenched his arm up behind him with a half hissed order to turn the lights back on.

"What's the matter? Scared of the dark?" he shot back, though when the guy pulled his hand up practically between his shoulder blades, he gasped and finally relented, and the guards were all winces and noises of displeasure when he put the lights back up to full power, half blinding them all just to be a pain in their sides even though he was trapped.

But now that he was well and truly stuck, there was a new player approaching — as evidenced by the heels clicking on the halls as she strutted over.

"Oh, you have learned all you can, haven't you, my dear boy?" Viper cooed as she stalked closer to the captive young man. "At least all you can from that silly little school."

Gerry's eyes went wide when he recognized Viper — since his mom had been sure to tell him, frankly, as much as she could about everything she had faced in her career as an Avenger and otherwise. So he very slowly shook his head, his heart pounding as he remembered everything she had said the head of Hydra had done to her.

"How is my sweet little Jessica doing lately?"

"Fine," he said carefully.

She smiled sedately and kept coming closer. "And you — I understand you have no interest in becoming a hero."

"It's my decision to make," he said just as carefully, thinking over every answer and trying to remember what his mom had said about how insane this lady was and how to deal with her should he ever have the bad luck to be stuck talking to her.

"Of course it is," she replied before she brushed his hair out of his face. "So … what are you considering in lieu of following in _Daddy's _footsteps?"

"That's also my decision to make," he said.

"I didn't say it wasn't," she replied with a smile. "I simply asked what you were considering."

But Gerry shook his head. "It's not your business what I do. I just want to go to school and be my own person, alright?"

She let out a weary sigh. "Oh, my dear, sweet little man. I was asking you out of courtesy. I can make you tell me if I want to. I'm trying to give you the option of sharing on your own." She rested her hands on his shoulders and took a moment to size him up. "Don't listen to everything your mother has to say, dear. Not all of it's accurate."

"I don't know; I think she's pretty smart."

She smiled and took half a step back to assess him better. "Tell me: how far off am I?" she asked. "You're what .. one-sixty-five?"

Gerry held his breath and then nodded, knowing it would come back to bite him if he tried to hide or it lie — especially if she drugged him anyway and the dosage was off. "One-sixty-seven," he said.

Viper nodded slowly. "So … with that in mind … do you still plan to make this hard on yourself?"

He paused and then let out a very slow breath. "Medical school. I want to go to medical school."

She outright grinned "Delightful!" She tipped her chin up to her men and simply turned on her heel to lead the way. "We're going to have a lovely time."

* * *

"I talked Annie into letting us do the cake," Elin told Krissy quietly.

Krissy grinned at her friend. "You can do impossible things," she declared. "_How_?"

"I promised that I'd take her cooking class next semester. And that I'd talk at least three more people into taking it too."

"Oh, that's easy enough. I'll go with you," Krissy said.

"Well that's one — but maybe I can talk a few more into it," Elin said.

"Chance won't count; he and Charlie already promised that they'd take the class. Cody too."

"Oh, I'll get new kids," Elin said with a wave.

Krissy grinned and draped her arm around Elin's shoulder. "So. We've got the cake. Kari's got the decorations. And Kade is _so _on board to play distraction."

"Great. So. Are we going to try to make dinner too? Or is this just a 'here, have sugar and kiss' situation?" Elin asked.

"Actually, Mom and Kaleb are handling dinner," Krissy said. "And dessert — on top of the cake, I know, I know, we're just _like _this. I've heard."

"Well, that makes it easier," Elin said dryly. "No expectations at all for our masterpiece."

"It'll be amazing, though," Krissy swore. "Kari said she'd help with the icing. So the whole thing will look _perfect_."

"Mom got us come cherry brandy for it, and she swore it was the really good stuff," Elin said.

Krissy grinned impishly. "Maybe we should check it first."

"_I _could," Elin said before she bumped Krissy's shoulder with hers.

"What, and I can't?" Krissy grumped. "I'm _German_."

"The last thing we need is to get you drunk on your dad's birthday," she giggled. "If you did, _all _of your friends would be banned."

"Ugh. Stop making so much sense," Krissy said, her lips pursed and her arms crossed.

"Would it make it easier if we snuck you some liquor the next time we go do something fun on the weekend? Mom said we'd get to go skijoring if we got enough snow."

"Oooh, yes," Krissy said, brightening up instantly. "That would very much make it better."

"Which part? The liquor or the doing something with Mom this time?"

"Both of those things," Krissy laughed.

"Great," Elin agreed, though the two of them stopped giggling and glanced up when some of the boys came into the room. "Nothing." Elin said, clearly for them.

"We didn't even get to ask anything," Sying said with a light laugh.

"Thought I'd cut you off at the pass," Elin replied.

"It usually _is _something when you do that, though," Chance said, shaking his head as he slid his arm around Krissy.

"You're totally paranoid," she said, scrunching her nose up at him.

"It's a learned skill," Sying teased.

"If you _must _know, we're still planning my papa's birthday," Krissy said, rerouting the boys.

"They really don't need to know," Elin said, leaning toward Krissy. "They'll blow it."

"That's why we didn't give them an assignment," Krissy whispered back.

"Hurtful," Chance muttered.

"They could babysit each other," Elin suggested with a grimace.

Chance stuck his tongue out at her. "Don't need it."

"That's not what Charlie was telling me," she replied, resting her chin in her palm.

"Charlie is convinced everyone is insane," Chance pointed out. "All the time."

"Well," Elin said carefully, "this is one of those 'takes one to know one' moments, I think."

"Gee, El, now I'm going to have to tell Charlie you think she's insane."

"She knows how I feel," Elin deadpanned, keeping her flat expression long after it was necessary, even going so far as to meet Chance's disbelieving expression, challenging him to say something.

But he didn't get the opportunity, since the doorbell rang and Sying broke up their chat to go answer it. The courier at the door gave him a thin package for Scott and politely thanked Sying before he headed on his way, leaving Sying to run it down to Scott's office.

"This came by courier," he explained once he got there. "Overnight, so it seemed important."

Scott raised his eyebrows at that and checked the return address — it was from the Chicago school, though that just had him frowning further as he opened it up to read the letter.

_Dear Mr. Summers,_

_I just wanted to thank you for letting me be part of your school, but I don't think it's for me. I want to explore some other options that I think could help me._

_I'm sorry about the short notice._

_-Gerry_

Scott frowned down at the letter and read it over a second time before he simply shook his head. Nothing about it seemed right, from the opening address to the fact that it was a letter and not an in-person conversation. Not to mention he had _just _talked to Tyler about the programs Gerry wanted to get into.

In a second, he'd called up Kitty. "Kitty, when was the last time you saw Gerry?" he asked as soon as she picked up.

"He went out on a date last night," Kitty said. "He usually comes in late, and it's not a day he has early classes. Why? Do you need him for something?"

He shook his head. "No, I just got a letter from him dropping out. Which means you're missing a student."

"What?" she said, alarm clear in her voice as she moved out to look for Gerry. "No. There's no way. He wants to follow Tyler's footsteps. There is no way he's dropping out."

"I'm holding it right now. I don't believe it any more than you do, but I'm telling you, it arrived by overnight courier."

"Alright. I'll get right back to you. I'm going to see if this is some stupid joke. They've all been trying to one-up everything since last fall."

"Alright," Scott said slowly. "I need to call Jess if he's not there."

"Two minutes," Kitty said. "You're going to lose me anyhow. Going through a wall."

Scott nodded and leaned back when he heard the click on the other end, rubbing his forehead and frowning the more he thought about it.

He didn't have to wait long before Kitty called back. "He didn't come in last night apparently. I've got some staff heading out now, and I'm going to break into his computer to figure out where he might have gone." The sound of keys flying was clear even over the line.

"Alright. Keep me updated. I'm going to let Jess know what's going on," he told her, hanging up and immediately dialing Jess's number.

"Jess, have you heard from Gerry since last night?" Scott asked.

"No ... should I have?" Jessica asked slowly.

"I'm just wondering if you got the same thing I did," Scott said.

"What did you get?"

"A letter from your son dropping out of the school," he told her frankly. "I don't believe it - and I called Chicago. He hasn't been home since last night."

"Oh, crap, Scott. You need to go decontaminate yourself right now — and burn that letter."

Scott frowned, though he made it a point to take a picture of the letter on his phone first before he did anything else.

"Ask Logan to tell you what the letter was laced with first, but you need to _go._"

"I'm going to Hank's lab right now," he swore, already getting up from his seat at the tone in her voice. "What are you thinking?"

"It's Viper. She's the only person I know that still uses an overnight courier, and this is exactly the kind of thing she'd do."

Scott glared at the thought, especially since now that he was on his feet, he was feeling dizzy. "I'm sending you a picture of the letter; tell me if it's his handwriting or if there's any phrases you think he's using …" He shook his head hard. "I'll call you back, Jess," he said, just barely managing to hang up before he hit the ground.

Scott wasn't down for too long, though, before Logan found him. Jessica had made sure to call him and clue him in to what was going on, and as he rushed off, she told him as much as she could. He swore when he saw Scott on the floor and wasted no time in hoisting him up and rushing the rest of the way to the lab — shouting at Hank as he kicked the doors open. "What have you got to detox him?" Logan asked as Hank got to work.

He didn't wait to find out, digging through the cabinets as he explained the situation to Hank. He went back to Scott's office and picked up the phone carefully, cringing back at the scent of the toxin on the device as he headed back to Hank and told him it was going to be a more widespread detox. Then, he called up Jessica to read the note to her off of Scott's phone — since she'd told him Scott had planned to send the picture.

"Listen, I'm on my way right now," Jess told him. "Can you call Kitty at the school? She'd know better than I do where he was last."

"On it," Logan promised before he slipped the sim card out of Scott's phone and tossed the phone itself into the trash. "Smells like the same crap she used last time she sent a letter," Logan said to Hank. "Though I'm sure she's changed it up a little."

"Yes, the effects are slightly more potent, and faster-acting, if I recall correctly," Hank said with a frown. "He's lucky you got him here when you did."

"You need anything before I go? Sounds like it's gonna be a mess. Gerry's missing — with his psycho wannabe gramma, apparently."

Hank simply shook his head as he continued his work. "Go. I have things well in hand here, and it sounds like you're needed more elsewhere."

"Thanks, Hank," Logan said before he headed out at a run.


	6. Unwilling Apprentice

Logan headed to the hangar rather than going upstairs after he was sure Hank had things under control with Scott and took the time he needed to let Kurt and K both know what was going on — and to figure out who all he needed for this run. None of the juniors. Not where Viper was involved and probably still in a mood from the last time they dealt with her.

He was still considering how best to approach it when Jessica showed up, ready to roll. "Who do you want to go along?" Logan asked.

"I already asked Natasha to meet us in Chicago," Jess said. "And if Kurt can get us there fast—"

"Kurt can get us there in a blink," Logan agreed. "I thought we'd take a few bamfs in case of a quick zip out for the kid."

"Great. Get him and let's _move_," Jessica said.

Logan nodded and texted Kurt, and within a few moments, there was a _bamf_ as he appeared, waiting just long enough to get the details on where exactly they were headed before he teleported all of them out of there.

When they reappeared — right into Kitty's office — she was in fine form, with four computers going at once, all of them different angles: traffic cameras, security from the most expensive buildings on the magnificent mile, and, of course, one with Gerry's email detailing where he was meeting up with the little Canadian girl.

Jess tapped the screen that had Gerry's email pulled up. "That's it. I know Viper owns a controlling interest in that place and pretty much the whole street it's on," she said, then turned to Kitty. "Can you pull up surveillance there?"

"You bet," Kitty said, kicking out a chair for Jessica in case she wanted to dive in too, though the two women were frustrated — but not surprised — at the complete lack of any working cameras in a wide radius.

"I already asked Tyler to try and pick up a trail on the ground at the restaurant," Kitty said over her shoulder, which was all Kurt needed to hear before he teleported himself and Logan there to help with that end of the search.

It wasn't any time at all before Logan hit the streets, taking a slightly different path than the one Tyler had gone down in search of the missing Drew. The trail was still hot enough when he found it that it wasn't a problem to follow, though he waited until he got to a point that he was sure there was only one possible direction to take before he called it in to the others, with Tyler heading back to Chicago to set up the medical wing instead of tracking now that Logan was there (and had the better nose for tracking anyway).

"I don't like this option," he told them frankly as he looked up the side of the tall skyscraper. "The scent is in the parking garage but not the elevator."

"So he was either moved from here or taken in through a different route," Natasha said as she joined the group of them, shaking her head at the whole setup.

"Don't think elsewhere until I've hit floor by floor here," Logan said.

"And I'll look for a hidden elevator," she said, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Theatrics, after all."

The group of them split, quickly running down the building, though to Natasha's annoyance, it was one of the bamfs who found a hidden access wall — _accidentally _— while Logan was still one floor out. When the panel popped open, there was a woosh of air, and Logan let out a growl as it was painfully clear that the only way available … was down.

"Okay. your uniform keep you safe from needle pricks?" Logan asked Natasha.

She smirked at him. "Lucky for you, I just came back from a party. This—" She gestured to herself "—will stop just about anything."

He let out a sigh and visibly looked relieved. "Good. Try not to get hit anyhow, hotshot," he told her before they headed down the tunnel and he hit the comm for Jessica and Kurt. "We're going down first. Try to avoid any trouble until we get back."

"I'm coming with you," Jess argued.

"That's great, Drew, but we're gonna try to make sure you don't go face-first into a damn trap."

"By going face-first yourself."

"My face can heal from it a helluva lot faster," Logan argued.

"And I'm going with him — and you know I won't let her take him. So it's not an issue," Natasha said shortly.

"The bamfs can tell you where the entrance is," Logan said. "By all means — see you down there."

The two of them pressed onward at a quick pace, hardly a word spoken between them the deeper they went into the sub-basements. It definitely had all the markings of a trap, and both of them were ready for it when the Hydra soldiers were waiting for them once they got down a few floors.

Of course, neither of them was in the mood to deal with the wall of green, and they simply shared a look between them before they dove into the fray, tearing through the Hydra soldiers quickly and efficiently as only the two of them could do when they were both on the same page like that.

They knew they still weren't to where Gerry was, either, because his scent wasn't on that floor, but it was the only direction they could take — through the Hydra soldiers.

Even so, they were a whirl of energy together, with Natasha's Widow's Bites and Logan's claws downing soldiers faster than the Hydra men could keep up with, both of them moving in tandem to cover each other as well.

But the tide of the fight shifted slightly as Logan picked his head up when he caught Viper's scent as she approached, and he narrowed his eyes even as the soldiers shifted the way they were fighting to make room for her.

She looked overly pleased when she saw the rescue team, smirking Logan's way as she reached for a few darts — though she threw those toward Natasha first, probably to take her out of the equation so she could focus on Logan.

Natasha instinctively held up her arm, and the darts hit her uniform but didn't pierce, like she'd told Logan. She narrowed her eyes and reached over to grab the darts and toss them aside as Viper turned her sights toward Logan, though when Viper tossed her darts his way, he sidestepped and growled at her. She smirked in return and reached for another dart to throw his way but didn't get to toss it when Natasha simply pulled her sidearms and laid down fire, forcing Viper's soldiers to close ranks around her to protect her, taking the hits for her.

The two heroes took advantage of the distraction to press forward. The Hydra soldiers moved to block Logan, who was the more obvious threat with claws out and a snarl on the edge of his lips, but that just made room for Natasha to slip through, her Bites charged up with every intent to sink them into Viper's side.

But Viper turned when she saw the incensed Avenger and managed to just dodge her strike, following it up with a high kick that slammed into Natasha's stumbled back a couple steps, wiping the blood from her mouth and only just raising her arm in time to prevent a dart from striking the uncovered skin on her face. With a vicious smile, Viper moved in to press her advantage, her hand going to the whip at her side as Natasha took a step back and went for her own sidearm, but neither of them got the chance to do anything further when Logan broke through the line of Hydra guards — and that seemed to decide it for Viper.

She turned on her heel and rushed back down the hallway she'd just come from, and when Natasha and Logan burst forward to catch up to her, they were frustrated to meet only more soldiers specifically sent to block their path.

By the time the two of them had pushed their way through that second wave, Jess and Kurt had caught up to both of them — clearly fresh from their own tussle with Hydra soldiers, if the blood on Jess' uniform and Kurt's swords was any indication.

"Did you find him yet?" Jess asked.

"No, but we found Viper," Natasha said, picking the dart out of the reinforced uniform with a look of pure disdain before she tossed it aside. "She gave up the fight too easily," she added.

"So we're either walking deeper into a trap — or this is a test," Jess said with a frown.

"Seems like," Logan said, looking grim and already back on the move and looking for Gerry's scent again. "Just gotta do it anyhow."

The four of them pressed forward, only going deeper until it was clear when Logan had finally picked up Gerry's scent — at about the same time that Kitty came down through the ceiling of the floor above them. "_There _you are," she said, then looked around them with a frown when she realized that they were distinctly teenager-less. "What are you all doing down here? The helicopter just left the roof when I got here."

Logan locked his jaw and reached his arm up to her. "Take me up, kitten."

Kitty simply grabbed hold of Logan's arm and started to air walk up, phasing them through the floors until they got up to the roof so he could see for himself: there was a helicopter pad but no helicopter.

Logan swore under his breath. It was pretty clear that Gerry's scent had disappeared from the roof — it was a lot stronger up there anyhow. "Jess's gonna lose it," Logan muttered.

"I can see if I can find it on radar," Kitty offered.

"Have Quill do it — might be quicker than waiting," Logan told her as he looked around for something that he wasn't going to find.

"I'll tell him to follow them if he gets a lock," she agreed, already going to her comm to talk to Peter on the other end before Logan's comm crackled with Natasha's voice.

"We found the girl he was with," she told Logan. "I sent Kurt back to Chicago with her."

"What kind of shape was she in?" Logan asked.

"Not good," Natasha replied. "Jess went with them to identify whatever she was poisoned with."

"I'm gonna run over this building floor by floor," Logan told her. "Gotta be something we can use."

"I'll stay here with you," she promised, then paused. "And Gerry?"

"That's what I'm double checking for. Kitty's on it otherwise. But he's probably not here."

Natasha swore in Russian over the line. "I'll meet you down here," she said after she was finished.

* * *

As soon as Kurt and Jess had arrived in Chicago, Jess was already giving Tyler and Lucy the run-down of what the little Canadian girl had been given as well as what they needed to do to counteract it, and both blonde doctors were already rushing to get the girl some relief. So by the time Peter Quill came down to see what was up — after an unsuccessful sweep trying to find where Viper had disappeared to — the skinny brunette was looking and feeling much better.

"I've got the _Milano _doing a sweep; David's monitoring for if we get a hit," he told Jess first and foremost, since she looked like she was ready to go on the warpath.

"Fine," Jess said, though she had her attention more clearly fixed on the young woman in front of her, a deep frown set into her features as Lucy finally stepped back to let them talk with her. "What happened?"

Jamie looked between the adults in the room and shook her head, her eyes wide as she shrank back a bit. "I don't … we were just out to eat, and he passed out during dessert!" she said, clutching at the blanket Tyler had given her to help with some of the shivering from the cold IV. "The next thing I know, there's soldiers in green all over the place." She looked around the room again and clutched the blanket closer. "Did you find him? I … I don't know … they just had me locked in a room; I didn't get to …" She swallowed. "Did you find him?"

"Not yet," Kitty told her. "What do you remember?"

Jamie bit her lip. "I remember being taken somewhere in a car," she said. "And being locked in a room…. But it was hard to really focus on anything after she poisoned me," she admitted, still looking wide-eyed between them.

"You need to try," Kitty said.

Jamie swallowed and nodded. "I — I think Gerry was there," she said shakily. "At least — in the room, I mean. It sounded like she was making threats. But I — I don't know where he went."

Kitty let out a sigh and looked over to Jessica, as if to say 'go for it'. "If you can't remember much, maybe this would be easier if we just asked Rachel to help."

Jamie's eyes widened, and she shook her head quickly. "No, I don't — I don't want someone going through my head," she muttered. "That's — that's private."

Kitty's mouth dropped open slightly. "She would never look at anything but what was relevant."

Jamie looked surprised at Kitty's reaction and then shifted a bit. "I don't really know her," she said. "And there's a few telepaths in Canada that try to peek at everything."

"What's more important here?" Jessica asked with her arms crossed. "Rachel not figuring out who your secret crush is or us not figuring out what happened to my son?"

Jamie let out a frustrated sound. "I _don't know _where he went!" she insisted. "I don't know what happened after he left!" She shook her head. "I told you — I just — I was just in that room and — and she brought him in to show him I was _hurting_! I don't know where he is! Or what she was planning!"

"She's not lying," Tyler offered from the other side of the room.

"I'm not!" Jamie looked between all the adults. "Please, I don't _know _where he is."

Kitty let out a sigh and looked over to Tyler. "You can handle making sure she's detoxed properly and all of that, right?"

Tyler nodded. "I've got things here. You guys focus on finding Gerry."

"Thanks, Tyler," Kitty said before she took Jessica's arm and floated them up through the ceiling and right into where the computers were still going, looking for anything that could give them a lead to where Gerry was.

* * *

Logan was working his way through yet another level of offices. While this floor had traces of Viper's scent here and there, it was clearly in passing, and there was no trace of Gerry. At all. He was getting frustrated. Little touches of Viper all through the building — but none of them leading to anything concrete…. He started swearing under his breath when he realized that she had to have purposely trekked through some of these floors just to screw with him.

He was just toying with the idea of setting off a few choice charges when Natasha broke through on the comm: "Found her lab. I haven't touched it, but I'll show you where when you get here."

"Great," Logan said, turning to look at the number on the floor. "I'm on 6 working my way down. Let me do one more and I'll meet you wherever you are."

"Alright. I'm in sub-level 3."

"Be there before you know it," Logan promised. He picked up the pace but finished that floor at least so he could start off on 5 and work his way down once they were done with the lab. Even though the elevators were running, he was in a mood not to trust anything with Viper's name on the deed and instead zipped down the stairs until he stepped out into the sublevel where Natasha was waiting for him. "I hate this building."

"I'm sure the feeling is mutual," she said with a small smirk at the corner of her mouth before she gestured for him to follow her down to where a glass door led into a lab area. She tipped her head. "All yours."

Logan didn't acknowledge her more than by nodding her way once, already glaring around the lab with his head tipped to the side. He started to walk in slowly, obviously scenting everything out as he went, and he paused at the bench, shaking his head. Without explaining further, he crouched down and kept working right there, checking everything out slowly and carefully before standing up straight and moving on again. Once he was done — and had checked all of the cages and hidden nooks — he let out a heavy breath. "She's got him doing stuff for her."

Natasha frowned outright and almost looked agitated before she shook her head. "Which is marginally better than doing it _to _him," she allowed at last.

"There isn't much here that both of them didn't handle — but I'm not seeing any blood anywhere."

Natasha ran a hand over her face before she nodded. "Jess is going to be livid."

"And I'm not doin' anything until I finish up either," he told her. "Heading back up to 5. Smelled like her office was on sublevel 4."

"I'll check there, then," she said. "See if I can find anything at all."

With an almost imperceptible nod, he rushed off again, leaving Natasha to do a preliminary search of Viper's office.

* * *

Gerry was still pretty badly shaken by everything that had happened in the last twenty-four hours, though to his credit, he had managed to keep from totally falling apart when Viper was around because, yeah, that would have been bad.

Or, well, worse. It was already pretty bad.

At the moment, he was pretty sure he was somewhere in Eastern Europe, though admittedly, he didn't know specifics. What he did know was that Viper's men had manhandled him into a helicopter - and since the one thing he hadn't inherited from his mom was flight, he was pretty screwed once they took off, even if he _had _managed to get past Viper or her men, which he hadn't.

From there, it had been a quick flight to switch to a small jet, and then a few hours' flight to … wherever they were now. He was only sure of the general area because of some of the buildings he'd managed to spot while they were moving, but beyond that ... now? He was more or less in the same place as he'd started: in a locked room with no window that he could climb out of. And oh yeah, he was pretty sure there was a dampener or something, because breaking the door down wasn't working and just left him with a sore shoulder.

It… really wasn't a cell, at least, which Gerry wasn't sure what to think about that. He had his own bed and a bunch of books on anatomy and biology and… well, a bunch on poisons and chemicals too, but he was just… not going to touch those. And pretend they didn't exist. Not that it was going to do him any good, considering Viper seemed to think his interest in becoming a surgeon required her _personal attention_.

Even though Gerry hadn't really slept since the date with Jamie, he didn't think he was going to — at least not for a little while. He was too keyed up, stuck in a weird headspace of mortified and terrified that he didn't think was going to stop any time soon with Viper trying to "teach" him.

He hadn't seen Jamie since the move, either, which was part of what had him worried beyond the simple fact that the woman who had made his mom miserable was trying to make him play along with her insane fantasy now. He'd just seen Jamie the one time, just long enough to know that she was poisoned and hurting, and even if it had just been a "for fun" date, he was honestly upset on her behalf that she got caught up in all this.

Viper had said that if Gerry didn't play along, Jamie would have been the next test subject Viper put in front of him… but even though he'd done what she told him to — in what had to be, hands down, the most terrifying "lesson" on the human body he'd ever had — he hadn't _seen _Jamie since then. And he was starting to wonder if maybe she was dead just the same — only without having to go through being a test subject first. He probably should have been more specific.

He just didn't know what else he was supposed to have done in that situation. He could have refused to play Viper's game — and considering the fact that he'd very nearly passed out when the lesson was all said and done, maybe he should have —but then what? Even if he'd refused to touch Jamie, Viper would have done it, and she probably would have killed the first test subject in front of him too, the one who wasn't Jamie, so there really wasn't a "good" option here.

Gerry leaned back against the headboard of the bed that he wasn't sleeping in and rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands. He _felt _tired after spending the night playing "Crash Course in Surgical Equipment" with Viper, but there was no way his mind would quiet down enough to sleep, and he was half waiting for someone in green to come back and drag him off someplace else, considering that's all he'd been doing for the past several hours — getting manhandled from one place to the next.

He was just starting to at least _try _to get more comfortable when there was the unmistakable sound of the door unlocking, and his head swung up to see what the heck he was in for _now_.

"You look like you're settling in nicely enough," Viper's voice echoed through the room a few moments before she appeared carrying a tray with her, of all things.

He eyed the tray suspiciously and scooted back. "Yeah…"

She couldn't help but smile at him. "I'm not going to poison you, dear."

"All the same, I think I'll keep my healthy paranoia, thanks," Gerry said, still angling himself a bit away from her as she sat down at the foot of his bed, resting the tray on the nightstand beside the bed. He was a bit surprised to see that it was … fairly normal-looking. A sandwich and — for real — a glass of milk. Like he was ten.

Viper followed his gaze to the tray and smiled a bit more. "You really should rest and eat something. We're just getting started, and you need to be able to keep up."

He regarded the tray with a serious frown. He didn't believe Viper in the least. Not about the "just getting started" — that he could believe. But he'd heard stories from his mom and knew that just because Viper was playing nice now didn't mean that she wasn't going to do something horrible later. And if he was drugged — which was different than poisoned, and he was smart enough to know that it was an important semantic distinction — then he wouldn't be able to stop her.

"The last time I ate something you had a hand in," he said carefully, "I ended up unconscious."

"That was just to get you here, dear," she said in almost a coo. She reached up to run the back of her hand over his face as he tried harder not to show his honest panic. "Believe me, we'll get to poisons and drugs and how to identify them in due time. Don't get ahead of yourself, my smart little boy."

For a moment, he just stared at her. He'd been doing alright so far in being cautious and careful around her, but it really was something else having to deal with her in person, having to think over every word and every possible way that it could be taken. And the truth of the matter was that he knew he _did_, in fact, need to eat and sleep, because if Viper decided to swing the other way and start using _him _as a test subject, he wasn't going to get it later.

But his stomach was still in knots, and his hands were sweaty, and he could still feel the cold metal of surgical tools in his hands as he forced them steady so he didn't make anything worse than it already was, and….

Viper smirked at him for a moment. "Unless, of course, you want to start _now_…"

He was trapped, and he knew it — and she knew it. She watched him flounder for a moment before he finally closed his mouth and shook his head. "No. Um. Thanks, I'll just…" He scooted over a bit so that he was closer to the tray and nibbled half of the sandwich just to make it a point to show he was eating, thanks.

She smiled at him and patted his arm. "Good boy."

* * *

When Scott woke up and saw Dr. Sarah Manning with Hank, he let out a breath of pure frustration and leaned back against the pillows propped behind his head. He didn't have to see more than that to know more or less what had happened; it must have been bad for Hank to get him to the cardiologist.

"Welcome back," Sarah said with a smile.

He opened his eyes again but looked past Sarah to Hank. "Are you going to do this every time I get hit?"

Hank shook his head lightly at his old friend, looking as tired as Scott felt. "Only when you find yourself poisoned with a heavy anticoagulant."

"Your blood pressure dropped dangerously low," Sarah explained patiently.

Scott leaned back and brought a hand to his forehead. "So you called in a cardiologist."

"Mr. Summers, there was every indication that you were at high risk for another heart attack," Sarah said. "And I think you'll agree that it's better to be prepared."

Hank couldn't stop the smirk Scott's way, and Scott definitely noticed it. "I'll give you that," he said with a sigh as he started to sit up.

"Now, wait a minute," Sarah said, putting a hand on his shoulder to stop him — and it was a measure of just how far gone Scott had been that her hand kept him there. "You're staying here for at _least _three days for observation."

"One day," Scott said, shaking his head. He didn't try to get up again, but he did look around to see what he had available to him.

"I'll bring your new phone," Hank said with a smirk as he got to his feet. He knew Sarah really just wanted to keep Scott overnight, but she was smart as a whip and had picked up on how to get Scott to agree to it — by vastly overestimating the time she actually thought he needed.

Scott nodded and seemed to settle back a bit. "What about Gerry?" he asked. "Is he alright?"

Hank let out a long sigh as he sat down beside Scott. "I'm afraid the team is still looking for him."

Scott frowned at that. "He's still missing?"

Hank nodded. "They were able to track him to a building in Chicago, but I'm afraid Viper left with him before they could quite stop her."

"Any leads?"

"Peter Quill is, I believe, working on aerial surveillance, and Jessica Drew is positively on the warpath," Hank informed him. "Logan is still scouring Viper's building with Natasha, and as I understand it, Clint arrived at the helicarrier about five minutes ago to tell our friend the assistant director what is going on."

"Do we have any idea what she wants?"

Hank let out a sigh and let his shoulders drop. "Unfortunately, it seems she's having him _assist_ him."

Scott's eyebrows shot up and he sat up a little straighter. "Hank—"

"Yes, I know, but we're doing everything in our power. Rachel is searching for him as well." Hank sat back. "For the moment, however, everyone is doing what they can, and until there is any change, you should focus on recovering."


	7. Viper's Little Secret

There hadn't been any sign of Gerry yet, and it was obvious to even the youngest kids that the adults were getting more and more upset about it.

They were reluctant to let the junior X-Men help simply because of who it was that had Gerry — not just because they were worried about what Viper was capable of but because they knew she was the one running auctions on powerful mutants.

Charlie _had _argued that she was neither of those things when she offered to help. She didn't want to be out in the field; she just wanted to be in a jet or something. She could 'hear' people even beyond a telepathic dampening field, since her empathic abilities were slightly different that way. If they got close, maybe she could 'hear' Gerry and help find him.

But everyone had turned her down. Her dad… Logan… Rachel… Kitty…

"They won't listen," Elin told her quietly. "Not when _she's _in this. She nearly killed me last time with her stupid darts — or her men did."

"I don't want to go in the _field_," Charlie said. "But I know I can find him."

"I know, but without something to make it so you can find him like Rachel does with Cerebro, you'd have to go _out_."

"I'd stay with the jet or the ship or whatever," Charlie said in what was now a tried and true argument.

"And they swarm the jet or the ship or whatever," Elin replied. "You just have to find a different way to help."

"Well, I _can't _use Cerebro," Charlie said with a sigh. "It's not… we're not compatible."

"Have you tried?" James asked.

She shook her head. "Dad won't let me."

"Well, it is a powerful doohickey," James said.

Charlie turned to face James and leaned forward. "Help me get in?" she asked, perfectly wide-eyed.

James thought it over for a moment. "Get Rachel to open it up."

Charlie let out a sigh. "Alright."

When Charlie did find Rachel, though, she wasn't surprised at all to get a lot of the same argument that her dad had given her: that it was dangerous, that it was risky, and all of that. "If you're not ready for it, it could completely overwhelm you," Rachel told her.

"Maybe that's not why she needs to get in," James told her. "And aren't you quick enough to put a stop to things if need be?"

Rachel gave him a dry look.

"Is that a 'no, I'm not that awesome, James. Thanks for asking'?" James asked, perfectly straight-faced.

"James, this isn't the time to run an experiment," Rachel said.

"I'm not trying to run an experiment."

"You're trying to look into Cerebro and compare it for Charlie's sake. What exactly would you call that?"

"A new machine. That _you _can't run." James held her gaze.

"Please, Rachel?" Charlie said.

"It's fine. If you don't want to help, I'll just go talk to Dr. Blue," James said. "He knows how to do things."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "Fine," she said.

Charlie smiled at Rachel and leaned over to kiss her sister on the cheek. "Thanks," she said, and Rachel just shook her head at her as she let the two of them in with her to the large room that housed Cerebro.

Rachel had Charlie sit down at the center of the controls and held the interface in her hands without giving it to her yet. "This isn't like anything you've ever experienced," she warned. "The feedback is _intense_. Even more than when you first got your powers and couldn't turn them off."

Charlie nodded, perfectly serious as she held out her hands for the interface. "I've been meditating," she promised. "I know how to find myself and my center."

Rachel watched Charlie for a long moment before she finally nodded and helped her get set up. But while Charlie had been prepared for a rush of psychic energy or an influx of emotions or… anything… She looked up at Rachel and shook her head.

"Nothing?" Rachel raised an eyebrow.

Charlie pulled the interface off of her head and shook her head. "No. Sorry."

"How does it work?" James asked.

"It enhances psychic ability so we can detect mutants."

"I know what it does; I wanna know how it _works_," he said with a wave.

Rachel frowned at him for a second before she shook her head. "I don't know the technical side of it."

"So I gotta go talk to Hank anyhow," James said with a sharp nod before he turned and started off. "Thanks!"

Charlie quickly got up to follow him. "Thanks for letting me try," she told Rachel before she rushed to catch up to James. "I guess empaths and telepaths are different enough it won't work," she told him in an obviously disappointed undertone.

"Yeah, but … if you can make a machine that can find people through thought, I don't see why you can't find a way to make one that'll work for you either," James said. He turned her way with a look of concentration that she just wasn't used to seeing on him. "And seeing as I'm basically on lockdown …. What else have I got to do?"

Charlie's eyebrows shot up, and she leaned over to kiss James' cheek. "You're amazing. _Thank you_."

"I haven't done anything yet," he pointed out.

"I have perfect faith in you that whatever you build will work," Charlie said.

"Let's get the nitty gritty from Hank first. He's usually pretty tolerant of giving me stuff to work on."

"You could always get Forge or Howard to help you with the technical details if you need it."

"Howard would be easier to talk into it — but Hank has the _plans_. And I'm pretty sure he can explain how _it works._"

Charlie nodded and looped her arm through James'. "If you can pull this off… well, let's hope that I don't have to use it and that Gerry is back by then, but still. If you can pull this off, I'm throwing you a parade."

"You're assuming that I'll ever be allowed out of the house again."

"I'm pretty sure your dad and Gerry's mom are conspiring _right now _to kill the source of the house arrest," Charlie pointed out.

"Well … she's the one doing the auctions right now. That doesn't mean someone else won't step in and take over."

Charlie let out a sigh as she came to a stop and pulled James to a stop beside her before pulling him into a hug. "I know it feels kind of hopeless right now, but please don't give in, okay?"

"It's not that," he replied. "I'm just being realistic about it. Creepy people and the lure of money and power … it's always going to be there."

"Yes, but I'm sure the adults will let up eventually," Charlie said. "If it's always there, why stop living?" She leaned forward with a smile. "My dad says that - and you know, I think he should listen to himself."

"That's basically how my whole family survives," James agreed as they came to Hank's lab. "So … let's just see what Hank will do to help us."

When they arrived, Hank raised his eyebrows at seeing the pair of them looking like they were in perfect agreement. "And what can I do for the two of you?"

"Well," James said, giving him a little smirk, "you could give me everything you have on Cerebro?"

Hank's eyebrows shot up. "And just what are you two up to?"

"I can't use Cerebro," Charlie explained. "We're incompatible. And James wanted to know how it worked so he could see … you know… if it's me or the machine or… something." She glanced toward James, since she didn't actually know the technical details.

"We're not up to anything _yet_," James said. "I don't know if it's even possible, and I needed to see how you came up with finding the wavelengths — or if it was just a matter of super charging the ability like a lightning rod — or … how does it even work?"

Hank looked between the two of them for a moment in total bemusement. "Is that so."

"I'm not doing anything," James promised. "I just want to know how it works and if it's even possible." He gestured around them. "And I'm not going anywhere or doing _anything_."

Hank tipped his head James' way. "We have the plans here if you'd like to study them," he said, waving him over.

"Actually, I've seen the blueprints. I want to know how you tuned it. Without lobotomizing the Professor."

Hank nodded. "Well, I don't mind telling you it was quite a series of improvements upon improvements," he said as he pulled James aside and pulled out the specs all the same to sit him down and start going over the final details — and Charlie made herself comfortable by snagging Jolie to play with her while they talked shop.

* * *

Viper had been looking forward to seeing how well young Gerry had retained her lessons. She'd done things much better than the last time — with Jessica. She'd been more thorough. More patient. And now? Now, it was time to test the boy.

"I've brought you something special," Viper told him with an easy smile. "A SHIELD agent. I thought you might like that."

"Oh," Gerry said, his eyes slightly wide for a moment before he managed to swallow and nod. "Oh, well, that… that was thoughtful…"

"He will be a perfect specimen to test a new poison of mine."

"What kind?" he asked, sitting up a little straighter. He seemed to take better to the learning opportunities outside of the lab, but he _did _have a good sense of curiosity that almost made up for it.

"A lovely combination of blowfish, bark scorpion, arsenic and a few nasty toxins from mushrooms. The victim should be in agonizing pain as they hallucinate."

Gerry's eyebrows shot up, and he seemed to think it over. "I guess that's interesting, but wouldn't you want that separate? The hallucinations from the pain, I mean…"

"Oh, this isn't one to start with," she replied. "This is one to make sure they die in misery and terror."

"Oh," he said again and nodded.

"It's the potency I need to test. Not the effects."

"So you got a SHIELD agent," Gerry said.

"Well. I have several, but I have one for you in particular."

"I don't really know many SHIELD agents," Gerry admitted. "That was more my parents… I mean, I appreciate the thought," he said quickly.

"Oh, you misunderstand, darling boy. These agents have been trained to withstand conventional methods of questioning. The fact that they're SHIELD means little. It's their talents that will come into play today." she tipped her head toward the door. "Come now. It's time to get down to it."

Gerry took a deep breath and seemed to center himself. "Maybe… KGB next time?" he said as he shouldered the door open and hadn't even looked at the SHIELD agent yet. "If you're going for, you know, tough to crack?"

"KGB are overrated," Viper replied. "Disgraced Yakuza are more fun."

"Well, you would know," Gerry said before he finally turned to look at the SHIELD agent and took another deep breath before stepping up to the table. Anything he forgot, they would go over together before moving on, so he was learning quickly not to forget, or he would have to go back over it twice before he could move on to new things, and for as talented as he was turning out to be, he didn't seem to have the stomach yet for making it last.

* * *

"So, it's not exactly a solid lead," Peter Parker said over the phone as he called up Logan. "But one of my teams out looking for Gerry dropped completely out of contact in Madripoor. I can send you their last known coordinates. I can't tell you for sure if it was Viper, but it was in her neighborhood, and the extraction team said the indications were they were taken alive, which kind of sounds like her."

"Sure does," Logan agreed. "Send me the details and I'll let you know how it turns out."

"You should get the coordinates to your phone any second, and I'm just…" Peter shuffled a bit, and Logan could hear a 'not now, Lydia' for a second and a whole lot of giggling before Peter said, "Yeah, okay. Let me know how it turns out. Sending you the data now," and then hung up.

Logan waited for just a moment or two before the message came through, and he let out a breath when he saw where it was. He sent out a group message — just to get it over with. Short and sweet. _Madripoor. Now._

He wasn't surprised that Jess was the first one to respond that she was on her way — or that Natasha was right behind her, bringing Clint. The three of them were hanging on their phones lately for any news of the little Drew, so they were jumping at the chance to find any sign of him.

"Six SHIELD agents went missing in Madripoor less than twelve hours ago. Not dead. Missing," he told them when they got there, looking ready to roll.

"Sounds like a neon sign to me," Jess said. "I'll fly."

"You'll co-pilot," Logan corrected.

"Fine," she said, already climbing into the jet. "Let's just go. It's been two weeks."

Logan shook his head and led the way to the blackbird. "I'm not leaving that island without someone paying. One way or another."

"No one here is arguing that," Natasha agreed as she and Clint simply started a silent, cursory rundown of each other and their respective weapons so they each knew how many arrows and bullets they had before they had to cover the other.

The flight was fast — as always. And Logan was sure to redline it all the way just to get it rolling faster still. And by the time they had their vertical landing near the docks, they were all ready to get _out _of the jet. "Take the warehouses," Logan said to Clint and Natasha. "Jess and I are gonna go see my ex if she's got her sorry hide here."

"You got it," Clint said, already stringing an arrow as he and Natasha rushed east to get started, leaving Jess and Logan on the warpath west toward Viper's last known location.

The warehouses were still in the part of Madripoor that Viper controlled, and considering her most recent business venture, Clint and Natasha almost weren't surprised to find that, after destroying the first warehouse full of Hydra weapons, the second one contained kids.

There were about twenty of them, all of them younger than sixteen at the most. Natasha and Clint glanced at each other, and in an instant, they both relaxed their stance, switching from the aim of total destruction to deal with this new problem.

Natasha focused on making them an exit and a clear path back to the jet, while Clint was the one to talk to the kids, who were obviously freaked out, though unlike with the auction the X-Men had busted up, they weren't completely out of it, either — which was good, since there was no other way the two of them were going to be able to move twenty teenagers on their own.

"Nat," he started to say, but before he could finish the thought, he looked up to see that Natasha was already coming back down from the warehouse foreman's office. "Thanks," he said as she handed him the key, and he got to work letting the kids out of the collars that were holding their powers back — which, again, would help with the whole moving twenty teenagers thing, especially when a couple of them turned out to be strong enough to carry a few of the others, which meant the younger kids had someone to stick with.

"Stay close," Natasha directed, getting a sort of wide-eyed nod from the rest of the kids as she led the way out, with Clint covering the whole group at the back of the quick procession.

Not that it was going to be easy. Even with the serious devastation that Clint and Natasha wrought upon the warehouse full of weapons, there were enough Hydra soldiers paying attention to this one that the second they were outside, they were under fire.

After all, those twenty kids were _incredibly _valuable.

The soldiers weren't shooting to kill — which would risk losing one of the kids that they were trying to profit off of — but that was really just making both Clint and Natasha angrier when the first tranquilizer hit one of the teens in their care. The kids scattered, taking cover as best they could at Natasha's orders, and the two Avengers simply shared a look before they dove in.

The Hydra soldiers simply switched tactics once the kids weren't part of the equation, though switching to lethal rounds wasn't going to help them for as ticked off as both of the Avengers were.

One of the soldiers managed to get between them close enough that Clint had to use his bow like a staff for a moment to keep from getting slammed over the head — but a little earthquake _just _beneath the Hydra soldier knocked the guy off his feet long enough for Clint to knock him out, and he looked over his shoulder to see one of the kids flash him a shy smile.

"Thanks," he called out before he dove back in, and Natasha shot him a little smirk.

"You're getting slower, you know," she said just a second after she put a Hydra soldier on the ground.

"Thanks, Nat. I really appreciate that, in this time of trouble, you're there to bolster me up instead of taking cheap shots at my age and my ego."

She smirked a bit wider his way — then spun to shoot the soldier who had been trying to sneak up on them while they were talking. "I'm just saying: ten years ago, you wouldn't have missed seeing him."

"Ten years ago, I also would have been out of practice staying home with the kids - who were too young to take care of themselves on their own."

"And you do such a good job," she said with a small smile his way.

"Yeah, that's why one of them's missing," Clint said with a frown that had Natasha honestly pausing for a moment before she shot the last two soldiers and walked over to pull Clint into a passionate kiss that didn't stop until one of the kids cleared her throat and asked if they could please leave now.

* * *

Jess, of course, didn't need to be told where to go as she headed out with Logan. Instead, the two of them rushed toward the bar first, since that was, of course, still Viper's favorite spot — looking over the casino on the main floor as her dealers ripped off everyone that walked through the door. And, of course, they were prepared and waiting for the resistance.

The second the two of them made it through the doors, it was pandemonium. Viper's guards took aim and started firing while patrons scattered in all directions. But it was easily clear that they weren't fighting with their usual gusto, and halfway to the stairs, the two heroes shared a look.

"She's not here," Logan called out. "You can find the others if you want — I think it's long overdue for this place to burn to the ground." He left Jessica to her own devices, namely questioning the higher ups that Viper left behind, while he cut his way up to the private table that overlooked the floor below. The large desk near the window was largely unguarded, and Logan was sure that it was because of the toxins and poisons she had strewn about to take out unsuspecting thieves.

Not that it was going to bother Logan much.

He ignored any of the telltale warnings that Viper had around — subtle tipoffs that anyone that didn't know her would blow through and end up dead from. The drawers didn't hold much, at least not until he pulled them apart and found the hidden pages under the center drawer — and that was all records of the monies that had passed hands in exchange for kids or drugs or both.

There was plenty there to get interested in, including an entire page of formulas and their counteractions, but no Gerry. And no _record _of Gerry. Which was irritating, considering the precise details on everything else.

Logan let out a breath as he sat there, his jaw locked, supremely irritated. So much so that he didn't really notice the first symptoms of being overloaded with too much and too many of Vipers nightmare mixtures. But he wasn't in the mood to even consider it as a possibility, so he gathered up what he could and used his lighter to spark up everything that was left over.

When the fire raced across her otherwise bare-looking desk - that was the first he considered what she _might _have applied to the desk itself. He swore to himself and hit the comm. "Jess — you're flying out."

"Got it. You need a pick up?"

"No. I can get out. I just … don't need to touch anything that can't be burned."

"Alright," Jess said, though it was only another second or so before the comm came alive again, this time with Clint on the other end.

"No sign of Gerry, but we found almost a couple dozen kids in one of the warehouses, so the jet's gonna be crowded."

"That's great," Logan replied. "Why don't you see if you can steal me something to wear. Don't need kids anywhere near the uniform right now. Kinda got myself into somethin' nasty."

There was a pause and then, "How opposed are you to pre-worn Hydra clothing?"

"Very."

"Yeah, okay, I'll find something else."

Out of sheer curiosity — and the fact that Hydra was flat out pissing him off — Logan made a point to grab a hold of the first Hydra goon that crossed his path just to see how long the poison on him would take to do damage, then swore when the guy dropped before he'd gotten to the front door. "Okay. Scratch that. I have a spare in the bird. Give it to Jess and have her bring it to my place."

"One laundry delivery coming up," Clint promised

Logan was still grumbling to himself when he got to the tiny apartment halfway across the city, and he wasted no time in wrapping up the books and records in plastic and then going straight to shower, all things considered.

When Jess got there with his spare uniform, she was sure to leave it on the table for him.

"Do me a favor and light the old one on fire," Logan called out. "It's in the trash can."

"Sure thing," she called back to him, simply taking the whole can out to set the contents aflame.

"I've got records," he told her as he rushed to get dressed. "But no one is touching them. She had some kind of film on the desk. Didn't do the guard I grabbed any favors either."

"I'll make sure none of the kids gets their hands on anything they shouldn't," she promised.

"I'm gonna wrap it up again before I pick it up," he told her. "And I've got her formulas. So if you can imagine what kind of nasty she had to protect that …"

Jess let out a low whistle. "Yeah, you really should go through a hazard wash when we get back."

"I will," he said. "Just had to get some of it off so I don't pass it on." He gestured toward the door. "Let's go. Now you know why you're flying."

"Yeah." She shook her head as she followed him at a jog. "I have to ask: did you find _anything _about him in there?"

He looked positively miserable at that. "I got everything but there wasn't mention of him anywhere." Logan turned her way. "Which means she really doesn't want us to find him. More than she doesn't want her formulas found."

Her shoulders slumped, and she let out a breath. "Damn."

"I'll figure it out, Jess."

"We will," she said.

He nodded at that. "I'd give you a hug, but I like you too much."

She couldn't help but smirk his way. "That's alright. Zoe and Nikki haven't left me alone since it happened. I'm not hard up."

"Do me a favor and warn the other two to keep a clear path. I'll call Hank and let him know what we have incoming."

"Oh yeah, because _they're _problem huggers for sure," Jess said dryly, though she was already going for her comm to do that.

"I don't want to touch anyone, smart ass."

"But you know it's true," she smiled his way.

"I oughta leave you here if you're gonna spew the same crap Kate does."

"I've spent the last couple weeks with her and Clint and the kids and you expect anything different?"

"Well don't … No," Logan said, shaking his head. "Don't start that up."

She smirked his way but didn't say anything further outside of updating the other two on what was going on, so that they were sure to keep the kids clear of Logan once they got to the jet and Jess put them in the air.

And once they were well on their way, Logan did a quick headcount and radioed Hank to let him know what the story was. "They look alright, probably got trackers in 'em from what I saw in the notes. And I'm gonna need an empty lab to take pictures of these notes before I burn 'em. Everything's covered in some kind of … Viper … crap. It's eatin' through the plastic."

"I'll be sure to clear a space," Hank assured him. "And to let Scott know about our incoming guests."

"How's he doin', by the way? Some of the papers smell like the crap he got hit with."

"He's absolutely fine now," Hank said. "As I have been repeatedly reminded."

"Well, if he's telling you about his medical business, it must be true," Logan deadpanned. "See you soon."

Hank chortled on the other end. "Indeed you will."


	8. K's Interrogation

For the first time in history, Avengers were leading a group of mutant kids without any assistance from the X-Men — settling them in for Hank to look over, and reassuring them that all was going to be fine.

And while they were playing welcoming committee, Logan was taking his time going through every single page and snippet of paper that he'd stolen — taking pictures of everything before unceremoniously dropping them in a wire basket to be lit on fire later. Many of the pages were indeed contaminated, and Logan was trying to keep track of what the different scents were. At least … he was until he realized that his nose was bleeding.

He glanced up at Hank in the next room over and swallowed hard, intent on finishing the job before he said anything. And when he wasn't trying to take his time to figure out what was most important to Viper, it was a little quicker affair. By the time he lit the basket on fire, he was dizzy and using the lab table to support himself. The plastic that had held the papers was totally melted into globs from being exposed to the toxins for too long, and the gloves he'd put on to try and contain the mess — and slow his exposure — were melted in spots and ripped in others just from touching it.

He stripped off the gloves and tossed them in the fire as Hank looked up at the flickering light of the flames and got to his feet quickly. "I'm going to the decontamination. Don't have kittens," Logan told him, though it was clear that Hank wasn't going to trust him to do what was required.

And by the time he was through, Logan knew he wasn't going to be fooling anyone on how off was — so he didn't even try to get out of it when Hank suggested that Kurt get him to his room to sleep it off. "Fine," Logan agreed. "Just … light that whole area on fire, wouldja? Or seal it off and I'll do it later."

Kurt, of course, wasted no time, particularly when he saw how pale Logan was. The fact that he was still trying to stop a nosebleed wasn't exactly very encouraging. Once Logan was in bed — with K making sure to try and help him — he realized that she was just waiting to hear what he was thinking. "Wasn't like someone else could mess with that crap," he said when she just raised an eyebrow at him.

"No. Of course not. That might mean you could heal all the way and deal with it more easily." She slid down so that she was even with him on the pillows. "So. What did you learn — outside of 'Viper is nasty?'"

"Just that she keeps strict records of everything but Gerry," Logan replied with a sigh. "She had everything. Formulas, names of dealers she uses as distributors — bank accounts — clients … an' that's for all her nasty dealin's. Everything from drugs and human trafficking to which militaries want what and what they can pay." He shook his head and let himself sink into his pillow a little deeper. "Every contact with us. Every fight. She had the names of the SHIELD agents that went missing — but no agents. She even had notes on when she screwed with that little girl in Canada again. Didn't know she had an axe to grind on a kid. Not surprised …"

"Wait. Go back," K said, reaching over to cover his mouth. "You said 'again'. Are you high, or is that a second rodeo for 'that little girl in Canada'?"

"Not high," he said with a dry look. "This is the same kid that we pulled out of Hydra's little playground in Romania. The one we handed to Mac to deal with."

K gave him a totally blank look. "And you don't think that's weird?"

"She's a kid."

"Right. And no one ever uses kids to do horrible things. I should alert Natasha. She should know she's totally full of crap."

"It's not the same," Logan said.

"No. That was a whole nation — this is your psycho ex with zero boundaries."

He shook his head but didn't argue it while he thought it over. "Kid was freaking out over where Gerry was."

"Yeah, that's nice. I'm going to go ahead and bench you for a while. Because … turnabout; and you always have had a total blind spot for women and girls. Sorry. But it's in your file. Don't ask how I know. We had a deal, remember?" She gave him a quick kiss and got up. "Is that all you got out of it?"

"No," Logan admitted, smirking her way. "Someone in the Canadian school has been buying. The drugs — not the kids. Not yet anyhow. No idea what the guy's title is, but if you wanna try and cross check it, I'll make sure Mac sees it."

"You rest up. I'll talk to Scott. I'm sure he's pouring over your pictures and working his way up to his third cardiac infarction." She paused halfway to the door and then returned for another kiss. "You're not allowed to go hunting Viper again if you're going to roll around in poison." She gave him an exaggerated look and then slipped out to find Scott, who was — as predicted — glaring at the projected pictures of all of Viper's contacts.

"So … I guess I probably don't have to tell you anything by now, right?" K asked.

Scott looked up at her and gestured for her to come in. "That depends on what you came to talk about."

"Two things," she said. "Not sure of order of importance. But … there is someone buying from Viper that Logan said was connected to Mac's school, for one thing."

He nodded. "I saw that. I'm planning on calling him up once I get the information down."

"Don't do that," K said. "The other thing was that I came to tell you I'm headed up there. I want to talk to the girl Gerry was out with when he got snatched. It turns out it was the same girl that they saved from Hydra?" She shook her head. "How did I not hear about that sooner?"

"I didn't hear that either," Scott said with one eyebrow raised her way.

"From what I read, they cleared her, but I want to revisit it," she told him, crossing her arms. "And I'd rather she didn't know I was coming before I pull her aside."

Scott nodded slowly. "Alright. I'll let Mac know I'm coming up. You're not going up there alone, especially not right now." He tipped his head toward the numbers. "The government up there isn't buying yet, but Viper's records indicate they have funds set aside for it."

She waved her hand and shrugged. "They still think that they own me. Let's be real."

"Which is why I'm coming with you," Scott said.

"Did you hear me arguing with you on that?" K asked. "I'm just saying it's nothing new."

Scott simply nodded at that. "Friday soon enough for you, or do you want to move tomorrow?"

"I will go when you can go," she replied. "Logan burned down Viper's office, so she may not know her records were compromised yet. But … if you make it sound like this isn't a rush job …"

"Then we should move on this sooner than later. We just got twenty kids in; I'm sure he wouldn't be surprised if I came up to talk with him about where to send them."

"Yeah, I heard," she said, nodding. "Logan's upstairs trying to stop a nosebleed. It's been a hard day."

"Yeah." Scott leaned back and nodded. "Alright. Be ready to leave tomorrow. I'll handle Mac while you talk to this girl."

"I'll have coffee ready at seven," K promised. "Unless you want it sooner."

"Seven's fine," he said, going back to the projected images. "Thanks, K."

"Anytime. Be sure to rest tonight too, big guy. Don't need you looking too stressed out when you go talk to Mr. Sunshine and Maple Syrup."

At that, Scott smirked her way. "Pretty sure he'd think something was up if I didn't, K."

"Are you kidding? His enrollment numbers are down and you just got twenty kids to find schools for. He'll be too busy drooling on your numbers to consider any ulterior motive."

"Maybe I'll remind him how we're getting those numbers. Be nice if Alpha Flight broke up a trafficking ring or two."

"Oh, you mean the fact that we're on a team of actual heroes that go and save people? Yeah. That's probably way heavier than he's ready to hear." She paused and then pulled back one corner of her mouth for an exaggerated 'eh?'

Scott chuckled and shook his head. "See you in the morning, K."

The next morning, Scott and K headed up to Canada — along with a few of the kids that they had rescued the previous day, a pair of French-speaking cousins and one little girl who was attached to the cousins and didn't want to go anywhere they weren't.

For the most part, the flight out was quiet, since the teens were pretty tired and worn out from everything that had happened and the early start, so they slept most of the way out — and Scott and K were more than happy to fly in silence.

And as K had predicted, Mac was thrilled to welcome in the new kids — and to talk to Scott about the possibility of a few more names. Scott was sure to let him know there was something he wanted to talk with him about before he'd sign off on any more kids — intending to take him to lunch outside the school grounds so they could talk in private and catch the drug buyer off guard.

"Mac, before you boys get to talking shop … I do need a moment with that poor little girl that got caught up in Chicago," K told him with a warm smile. "I know she said she didn't know anything, but Jessica is beside herself, and I'd like to have a chat with her over coffee." She glanced over at Scott. "We can take a table near you boys."

"I don't see why not," Mac said. "There aren't any new leads, then?" he asked, sounding genuinely disappointed.

She shook her head slowly. "No. Just grasping at straws right now."

"I'm sure she'll talk with you. She was pretty shaken up over the whole thing," Mac told her. "I'll have her meet us out front."

A few minutes later, Jamie came down, stopping in the lobby when she saw Scott and K. "Oh. What…?"

"You'll be joining us for a cup of coffee," K told her with an almost friendly smile. "Come on. Special pass out of science."

Jamie's eyebrows shot up when she realized K somehow knew her class schedule, but she slowly nodded all the same. "Alright," she said, following the group of them out as Mac and Scott were already talking about the kids - and the fact that the X-Men could really use more heroes out there breaking up the trafficking business.

And while Mac was promising to get Alpha Flight out there more — including some of the newer kids trying out for the team — K had pulled Jamie aside to have a quiet chat.

"We'll take a different table from the boys, of course," K told her as she redirected her to a spot where she knew the girl couldn't hear what was happening with the guys. "So." K gave her a quick once over, not blinking once before she put on a tight smile. "Why don't you tell me all about your traumatic experience?"

Jamie looked surprised and then shifted in her seat. "I already told Shadowcat and Spiderwoman."

"You didn't tell me. And I like to hear accounts firsthand."

Jamie let out a breath. "I don't know what you want to hear," she said. "I still don't know where he went."

"I don't want you to try to tell me what I want to hear. I want you to tell me the truth — and you can start with how the whole thing went down. I'm not asking for clues. Or your speculation. I simply want to know what happened. From start to rescue."

Jamie frowned as she considered K and then very slowly nodded. "Like I told Kitty, we went out to eat-"

"I didn't ask what you told Kitty. I asked for your account of things from the get-go."

"That's what…." Jamie frowned at her, clearly caught off guard.

"No it's not. Tell me like you were telling one of your friends. Not how you told Kitty or anyone at the school."

Jamie tipped her head to the side. "We just… went to dinner. We'd been emailing for a while, and neither of us had eaten at the restaurant before."

"Who told you about the place?" K asked, resting her chin in the palm of her hand, and looking perfectly approachable.

"I found out about it online," Jamie said. "Actually, the dessert was really good, just like the flyer I saw said it would be. It was just… drugged."

K let out a little 'hmm' and drew her teeth over her bottom lip as she started to smile. "That sounds awful. That's how they got you then, right?"

Jamie shook her head. "No," she said. "I saw him fall over, and then a bunch of green-uniformed soldiers rushed in."

K frowned in a way that showed more concern than suspicion. "That's … bothersome. Really."

"I know," she said.

"I mean … I know Viper," K said, leaning forward just a bit and narrowing her eyes. "Not well. But well enough to know that something is off here."

"My date got kidnapped and hasn't been seen for half a month. I think that's definitely 'off.'"

"Yeah, but you've now had close dealings with Lady Hydra twice. That's way more off than Viper snatching Spider-Woman's son." K tipped her head to the side. "That's actually the only part that makes sense. So. What's really the story?"

"I really don't know," Jamie swore. "I don't know why she left me behind. Or why she did half of what she did."

"Have you ever met her personally?" K asked.

Jamie let out a breath and nodded.

"How many times?"

"Well… there was the time in Romania… and there was the date with Gerry…"

"Which adds up to …"

"Which adds up to two," Jamie said. "And she's poisoned me both of those times."

K didn't give her anything to work with as she watched her get more and more uncomfortable. "And she didn't poison you at the restaurant."

Jamie shook her head.

"Then what did she want from you?" K asked. "She doesn't let people wander around without something in them unless she thinks they'll talk."

Jamie took a deep breath. "I don't know what she's after."

"Then why don't you tell me what she said to you?" K said.

"In Chicago or Romania?" Jamie asked.

"Yes."

At that, Jamie let her shoulders slump. "Honestly, I don't understand a lot of it," she told her. "When she kidnapped me, she said I was special. I don't know why. And she never really explained it."

"How long did she have you in Romania?"

"A few months," Jamie said. "And she never explained herself."

"So you most definitely saw her personally more than twice if she thought you were special and had you for months," K said, allowing her expression to show exactly what she was thinking. "So how about you tell me what happened in Chicago?"

Jamie frowned and then nodded. "That was only a few hours. She… she poisoned me and brought Gerry into the room. That was the last time I saw him — after she made sure to show him I was hurting." She took a small breath as her lip started to quiver.

"You're telling me she kidnapped you without drugs just to drug you later," K said, soldiering on.

"You asked me to tell you the truth, and that's what happened. She didn't drug me until then."

"She kidnapped you at the restaurant."

Jamie nodded. "She showed up in a car. And … look, I don't really know much about fighting. I take self defense, but it's not going to stop a whole bunch of Hydra soldiers, and I know it." She took a shuddering breath and started to wipe her eyes.

"Yeah, you can cut that crap right now," K said, her tone totally unimpressed. "You're not a half bad little liar, but that … that doesn't work on me."

Jamie looked totally stunned for a moment. "What do you even want from me?" she demanded.

"I want to know why a generally unextraordinary girl has managed to survive Viper twice — once as an extended stay, no less." She raised an eyebrow. "That's how you tell the truth, kiddo."

"I told you — I don't know."

"You told me a line."

"I don't know what you want from me."

"I just told you, and the damsel in distress isn't a good look on you. Pro tip."

Jamie looked angry as she leaned forward. "She said I was special. That's why I survived. What more are you looking for?"

"She lied."

"Well then I don't know what else to tell you, because that's what she said," Jamie said angrily. "If you came all the way here just to insult me—"

"And you're mad that I might be right," K said, smiling finally.

"Yeah, because every little girl wants to be told she's not special by an X-Man. What is your problem?"

"Your lies and holes in the story are my problem."

"I don't know where Gerry is, and I don't know what her plans are!"

"That much is true," she said. "But I'll let you know when I get it figured out."

Jamie glared at her across the table. "I thought X-Men were supposed to make us feel better about ourselves."

"Honey, my job is to protect people. Not coat their bullshit with sugar for them." She finished off her coffee quickly. "And nothing says I have to be nice to someone lying to my face."

"Yeah? What did I lie about?" Jamie demanded.

"Skipping over the stuff that you elaborated on after I busted you? Let's just focus on the fact that she 'kidnapped' you. And your story changes. Constantly." She shook her head. "Don't worry, though. I don't need to hear you keep repeating the stuff you told Drew."

Jamie let out a noise that was pure frustration. "She scares me, alright?" she burst out.

K let out a breath. "Well, that's the first thing that I believe from you." She pulled a face. "Did you realize that it was the truth before you said it?"

"What's that even supposed to mean?"

"It means, Jamie, that out of a long, rambling pack of lies and well-rehearsed stories, the first thing that I believe is that the psycho scares you. So. Whatever it is that's happened — get help. If there's a reason she's letting you walk, you'd be smart to tell someone before she decides not to let you walk." She put both hands on the table and let her voice drop lower. "Now that … that is my job."

Jamie took a deep breath and closed her eyes. "I just… did what she told me to," she said quietly. "When she had me."

"Okay. What did she tell you to do?" K waved the waitress over for more coffee and settled in. "I'm all ears."

Jamie let her shoulders slump. "She told me to finish my drink and get in the car," she said. "So I did. And then she took me to a room, and she poisoned me. She didn't tell me her plans… I just... did what she told me to."

"So she came up to your table?" When Jamie paused, apparently stuck for too long, K let out a low breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Okay then. How long have you been setting this up to get Gerry?"

Jamie looked absolutely terrified before she almost shrank in on herself. "She's going to kill me."

"Not likely," K said blandly. "She's not going to come anywhere near me." She watched the girl for a long moment. "Alright. How does she contact you then?"

"She… it's … there will just be an email … or a text… I never know…"

K held her hand out. "Your phone, please."

Jamie looked like the last thing she wanted to do was hand it over, but she slid it across the table, still looking positively terrified. "Please, don't tell her — she'll kill me. She will."

"Honey, I make it a practice not to talk to her," K said before she had Jamie unlock the phone so she could dig through it, though as she could have guessed, all of the texts and emails were gone. K glanced up at her across the table and then made a point to memorize the number and the attached email before she handed it back. "The next time she sends you something, forward it to Mac or me … or one of the Avengers. I'm sure there's a number you can call for them."

"They can't stop her if she wants to kill me," Jamie said. "Look what happened with Gerry!"

"They can if they send the right person," K told her. "And I'd love to be able to look at what happened to Gerry as an example — but I don't know what the end result is on that yet."

Jamie shook her head. "Me either."

K gave her an amused sort of smile. "I'm sure Mac is ready to take you back — and put you into protective custody. Seeing as you're so scared she'll come after you, that's probably the safest thing for you."

Jamie was all but curled into where the booth met the wall as she slowly nodded.

K barely turned her head toward where the guys were seated, and she didn't raise her voice when she said "You boys done yet?"

Scott responded by smirking and getting to his feet and heading over to their table. "Get everything you needed?"

"No," K said, shaking her head.

Scott raised an eyebrow her way and then shook his head as he offered her a hand up. "We've just been chatting for the last little while," he said. "Waiting on you girls."

"Sounds dreadful," K said before she tipped her head at Jamie. "Don't make me come back. If you come up with anything else — tell me." When Jamie just nodded, Scott offered K his arm to head back.

"See you later, Mac," K said with a wave as she took Scott's arm and the two of them headed off. "You got all of that, right?" K asked Scott low. "I left the comm on."

Scott nodded and leaned down toward her. "Mac knows too. He'll be on the lookout."

"I figured. You were both pretty quiet for a long while."

"Not much to say when you're listening in on a brilliant interrogation," Scott said with a smile.

"That was the most polite one I've done in years," K told him.

"That's what made it brilliant," Scott said with a growing smile. "You were working with the rules of the location."

"Oh. So. Seeing as this was Canada, I could have led with hot pokers. Damn."

Scott smiled wider and shook his head at her. "I'm just sorry she didn't know where Gerry was."

"She wasn't lying about that part," K said with a nod. "Whatever Viper did with her, she didn't tell her any plans, so … she probably does see something in the girl. Now, if that's just for this little travesty or if she had bigger plans?" K shrugged.

"Mac will be keeping an eye on her," Scott said.

"I know. He's already fighting off his every urge to adopt all of the ones that come through the door. He'll take it up as a hobby in no time."

Scott smirked. "Nothing wrong with being protective of the kids in your charge, K."

"Never said there was," she agreed. "What say we get back to ours? My big one ought to be just waking up. Poor lamb."

"Oh, I'm sure my wife already has a breakfast ready for him," Scott smirked. "Just happened to have it made, of course."

"I'm sure," K said with a smile. "Especially since I'm not there to baby him. Do I need to feed you in exchange?"

"If that were the case, you'd have paid for coffee." Scott smirked. "I'm fine."

She popped up on her toes to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Of course you are."


	9. Give Him Enough Rope

Viper was once again in high spirits, although the last week or so had been touch and go. News that the X-Men had destroyed her holdings in Madripoor was irritating, but the fact that the Princess Bar had burned to the ground along with several of her men trapped inside wasn't entirely upsetting. The place was due for a major facelift anyhow. Too many old ties still showed in the layout. That was going to have to change.

Of course, the fact that they'd broken up the warehouse and the auction — whisking away with several higher-priced commodities — wasn't something to brighten her up. It was all bad news — unless, of course, she considered how incredibly _well _young Gerry was falling into line.

He was every bit as smart as his mother — and more reasonable to deal with too. She found herself smiling as she thought of it. Boys always were easier.

Viper was nearly humming to herself as she gathered up her supplies. There wasn't much left to do. Young Gerry had gotten to the point where he simply didn't question her or hesitate when she told him to do something — so it was high time that she gave him a little rope. And hoped he didn't hang himself with it.

She looked to the surveillance on the SHIELD soldiers just down the way and tipped her head, once again thankful that SHIELD was so strict in keeping a general consistency on their men's sizes and heights before she drew back a measure of an eerie, almost neon green liquid into a needle and syringe. That would do for any one of the men. But it would be up to Gerry which one got to fall.

She replaced the cover and held it in her hand, the smile creeping more solidly onto her face as her heels clicked on the stone floors. It was time to see how much he'd learned. She didn't knock before she entered his room, sure that the boy had heard her coming anyhow. "Ah, my sweet boy. Are you ready for the evening's festivities?"

"As ever," he said, looking up from the book he was reading. He had thrown himself into studying when he was alone, determined not to make a mistake in the lab, and it was showing in his performance with the subjects she put in front of him.

She grinned proudly and simply turned, knowing that he would follow, since he'd picked the rules up quickly, after all. She took him down several halls until they were near one of the many exits. "You have a simple job tonight. And one I'm sure you'll do beautifully on." She pushed open the door, where there were several men lining the path out. "There are a few unwanted men just down the way. I want you to pick a good one to play with."

Gerry's eyebrows shot up, and he looked toward the open door. "Yeah?"

She produced the loaded syringe and held it up between them. "You know what to do with this, don't you, dear?"

There was a moment's pause before he smiled a bit and nodded. "Right. Dosage is lined up for their height and weight, right? Or is this experimental again?"

"No experiments yet," she told him. "This is what's needed for any one of them so they can be brought in. My men will be there in an instant to do the heavy lifting."

"Yeah, they'll need to be," he said with a little smirk as he took the cap off the syringe and simply plunged it into Viper's side, depressing it quickly and taking off in a cloud of pure black that obscured his exit.

He didn't miss her screech to the men to stop him — or the fact that she demanded he be taken alive. Though all things considered, that just had him running faster, shoving aside one of the Hydra men hard enough that he went flying back into another of the soldiers.

But the thing was? There was a path outside. For the first time since Viper kidnapped him, he could _see _a way out. And he could run on the ceiling. And they couldn't see him. So…

He burst out of the building in a rush of adrenaline and almost immediately came under fire from the men that were outside, not just lining the path. It was more instinct than anything else that had him throwing out the light in the whole area around the building, so they were shooting blind. It was more than he'd ever done — blacking out a whole building — it was so much easier to make it brighter in the middle of the day that to force the shadows.

He didn't get out scot-free, though. Before he blacked them out, one of Viper's men managed to tag him in the back of the leg, which wasn't helping his plan to _run like hell_.

There were, on the other hand, several SHIELD agents nearby who definitely weren't going to miss the sudden blacked out one-block radius, and when Gerry came half stumbling out of the dark, one of the agents was in the middle of calling in the phenomenon.

Gerry was still wearing all green, like Viper had wanted, so as soon as he saw the SHIELD agent, he threw up both hands and gasped out, "Drew! My name's Gerry Drew!"

One of the SHIELD agent's eyes widened in recognition before he quickly radioed it in. "We've been looking for you, kid," he said, while another agent rushed to pull Gerry around the corner from the building and try to assess him better. His leg was bleeding pretty badly, and it was obvious they were concerned about how pale he was, but that was more down to not sleeping or eating right because of the nightmares he'd been through in the past several weeks.

But before the agents could get far with helping him, the sound of baying dogs hit the streets, and he just _knew _that it was Viper and her men on the hunt for him.

"We gotta get _out _of here," Gerry said, his eyes wide — and the agents were already nodding their agreement as soon as they heard the dogs.

"We've got a transport just a couple blocks down," said one of the men, already moving into position to lay down cover for the agent who put a shoulder under Gerry's so they could run faster even with Gerry's leg torn up.

They'd only made it half a block before the dogs caught up, though — which Gerry knew because of the quick rapport of gunfire behind them coming from the other agents. The agent under his arm was swearing up and down, and when the Hydra soldiers caught up to the two of them — at least enough to shoot out the agent right from underneath Gerry — he knew he was totally _screwed_.

Something heavy and black hit him and toppled him over, and the next thing he knew, there was a _huge _dog sitting on his chest, his nose inches from Gerry's and his teeth bared. Every time Gerry even blinked, the dog let out a warning growl.

Once the Hydra soldiers had about half a dozen weapons trained on him, the guy in charge of the dog whistled to call him off before another two men came forward to drag Gerry to his feet. They put a collar on him to keep him from blacking anything out again, and one they each had a solid grip on one of his arms apiece, they simply started to drag him back the direction he'd come.

They were efficient about cleaning up the mess he'd made, too. There was about half a second where Gerry thought at least there was a solid trail for SHIELD to follow — they'd called it in, after all — but he saw over his shoulder that a few of Viper's men were already sanitizing the scene.

The very first thing that happened once Gerry found himself in front of Viper was that the woman reached out and slapped him hard enough to leave a mark and turn his head. "Take him to the lab." She glared hard at him. "Clearly, I've been far too lenient with you."

"What, you didn't see that coming? You gift-wrapped it for me!" he said, trying to pull his arms free, because if he was screwed, then he was at least going to take a shot at her anyway.

"And there is your father coming out," VIper said, her expression showing her obvious distaste. "He could never control his tongue either."

"I dunno, I think I've been pretty good for the last few weeks of total insanity!" he shot back.

She paused, her chin tipped up. "Then I suppose all there is left to do is to see how long it takes to break that spirit of yours."

* * *

When Peter Parker got the word about the report from the SHIELD team in Belarus, he didn't waste any time acting on it, especially since the team hadn't been heard from since they radioed in that they had found Gerry Drew.

He called up Scott as soon as he saw it, the phone pressed between his shoulder and his ear as he was already working on sending out a couple messages to SHIELD team leaders to be on standby for support if need be — though considering Gerry had grown up in Avengers mansion, he didn't think the rescue team was going to be hard up for backup.

"I'm sending you the last known coordinates on the team," Peter told him.

"Thanks, Peter. Go ahead and send them straight to Kurt. I'll let him know what's going on," Scott said. "We need to get there now, before she moves again."

"I hear that."

With that, Scott hung up and had already hit the hall and was on his comm. "Logan, get Jess and find Kurt — he's getting coordinates now. SHIELD found Gerry, but they've gone quiet."

"Alright; we'll be back before you know it," Logan replied.

He didn't have to go much further, though, before the bamfs simply brought Jess — and Clint — to Logan. Both of them looked ready to go, and Logan didn't get the time to see more than that before a bamf perched on his shoulder and they all ended up in Belarus. The bamfs were clearly ready to get _moving_.

"Missin' their little buddy," Logan said to Kurt before the two of them started to move toward the last known spot that the SHIELD agents were seen.

Once they got there, though, it was obvious the place had been wiped down and sanitized, even to people who didn't have enhanced senses. The smell of pepper was strong, and a couple of the bamfs had a sneezing fit when they got too close to the ground playing detectives — complete with magnifying glasses.

"I really hate her," Logan muttered, though he still at least _tried _to find a scent trail. But it wasn't really helpful at all, seeing as the pepper bomb had completely blown out his sense of smell. With a grumble, he switched over to more conventional means — looking for any sign or clue around them. "See anything that says 'I'm not like the rest of the country'?" Logan said to Kurt as he headed down the street.

"Not yet," Kurt said, though it was clear he was looking.

A few moments later, the comm crackled with Clint's voice. "Found some guys on patrol," he said. "Two blocks east of you, Jess. A block north for you and Logan, Nightcrawler."

"I'm there," Jess bit out, the anger and worry obvious in her voice.

"Right behind you," Logan promised.

Clint was already across from the building, on the rooftop directly north of it, watching the Hydra soldiers trying to act like civilians. They were a little better at it than the typical Hydra goon — Viper tended to take the best for herself — but there was no mistaking the pattern that they were walking. It wasn't just some casual stroll for a cigarette.

There were a few snipers in the upper floors, too, though Clint was sure to fit an arrow for each of them and take them out before they could see either of the other three members of the rescue team approaching. They didn't know if Viper knew they were on their way, though if she'd gotten to the SHIELD agents, chances were good she was waiting for them. Better if they didn't announce themselves until they were ready to knock on the front door.

"I'll stay out here," Clint said over the comm. "There's a pad on the roof, and she's not gonna use it."

"Headed to the basement, then," Logan said. "Seeing as that's probably where the party is."

"Safe bet," Clint agreed. "I'll watch the exits, make sure she doesn't slip out on us again."

"We'll leave a bamf with you," Kurt said. "If you see him before we do, they'll teleport him out."

"Ready to work our way in?" Logan asked Kurt once his comm was off. "I don't have a plan outside of 'stab everyone.'"

"That seems like a perfectly reasonable plan," Kurt said as he pulled out his swords and twirled them in both hands.

"Hasn't failed us yet," Logan agreed.

With that, Kurt teleported the two of them as close to the building as he could manage, though that still wasn't quite as close to the front door as he would have liked. Not that it slowed them down.

"Thought you weren't goin' for the dramatic entrance," Logan muttered.

"I _had _meant to get us in under their sights," Kurt said with a sigh. "Ah, well, this is much better anyway."

Logan shook his head and drove forward, kicking off the fun and games with the first few Hydra soldiers that tried to engage them.

It didn't take long for Jess to catch up to them, either, though she wasn't headed down to the basement like they were. "I'll meet you down there, but if she's headed up, she's mine," she called over her shoulder to Logan as she pushed her way into the building and went right for the stairs to go up to the floor that led to the helicopter pad, obviously of the same mind as Clint and not about to let Viper leave with Gerry again.

"Wouldn't dream of stopping you, Jess," Logan growled out, already with several Hydra creeps under his belt.

The two X-Men were speedy in making their way to the lab, the two of them certainly more than enough of a match for the Hydra soldiers that were trying to defend their mistress. Viper was already packed and on her way out when Logan and Kurt interrupted her. She let out a cry of frustration and threw the darts she had prepared for just such an occasion. But between the claws and the flashing blades, again, she found her target too well protected — and it seemed to enrage her.

Logan took a few steps forward, prepared for the whip — since that seemed to be what she was leaning toward in situations like this — but ended up facing a very different attack from her. He didn't even hear the other shots after the first, too stunned for a moment that his ears were ringing at a much lower level than usual after gunfire. By the time Kurt caught up to what was happening, Logan was having issues breathing, and he was openly staring at the blood that didn't want to stop.

"There's a dampener," Kurt called out over the comms. "And she's headed your way, Jessica."

"I'm on it," Jess replied, though she had figured out the dampener was in play when she couldn't just _fly _up the stairwell and was taking the stairs two at a time instead.

Jessica was just about to the top floor when Clint's voice came over the other line. "Pilot's getting the chopper ready to go."

"Don't let them take off," she said.

"Like that's even a possibility," Clint said with a hard edge to his tone as Jessica finally hit the top floor.

She could see the light indicator on the elevator that meant Viper was in it, and she was totally ready to cream the woman responsible for this whole mess — if it weren't for the fact that one of Viper's bigger men stepped out of the elevator first. And he was carrying an incredibly pale and unconscious Gerry. All at once, Jess switched from pure murder to concern and the need to get Gerry _out_.

She didn't give the Hydra soldier enough time to even register that she was there before, in one fluid movement, she had knocked him back a few steps and stolen his gun. In the same movement, she simply shot the man and then rushed to catch Gerry as well, glad to see that he was at least breathing, though he was pale and sweaty.

When Jess caught him and he made a tiny pained noise in his sleep, that was it — she just saw red.

In an instant, she'd tackled Viper, absolutely livid and simply laying into the woman with everything she had. She wasn't even thinking about it, and it had obviously caught Viper off-guard too — though it wasn't long before Viper rallied and fought back hard. Suddenly, it was all Jess could do just to keep her from going for her darts.

Jess had just gotten a solid knee into Viper's stomach when she heard the grunt of soldiers close by, and her head came up when she realized that a couple of Viper's men had spilled out onto the floor. One of them had a weapon leveled her way, but the other man had gone to Gerry, and that just was _not _going to happen. She wouldn't lose him again.

She launched herself forward, disarming the soldier pointing his gun her way before she used his same gun to shoot first him and then his friend before the Hydra goon could get to Gerry — though that was all the time Viper needed to rush to the roof, limping and bleeding and furious.

Jess let out a cry of anger when a couple more soldiers came in. She could chase Viper, but that would leave her unconscious son with the Hydra soldiers. So instead, she simply turned on the green-suited men and let out her frustration on them.

* * *

Kurt was struggling to get Logan out of the basement, especially since Viper hadn't tried to take wounding shots — but considering the large amount of metal covering his bones, the shots she had landed that went deeper than his ribcage were just luck for her.

When it got to the point that Logan just couldn't do anything to _help _get himself out, Kurt swore to himself and went to the comms. "I can't carry him or 'port him out," he said through his teeth. "The dampener has us stuck — and I can't control the bleeding."

"You still in the basement?" Clint asked over the comms. "Give me a minute; I'll come to you."

"Partway up the stairs," Kurt told him.

"Got it," Clint said, though it was another couple of long minutes before it was obvious he'd at least gotten to the building when there was a pulse that put all the lights out in the stairwell and killed the power to everything else — including the dampener. A few minutes later, Kurt could hear a door open and see the light of a flashlight. "Kurt?"

Not thinking, Kurt shouted back, but there was no answer, since Clint couldn't hear them. Still, Kurt let out a sigh of relief. The dampener should have been knocked out by that pulse, and that was one thing finally going in their favor. By the time Clint got down to where they were with the flashlight, they could see that the bleeding was slowing, at least.

Clint let out a low whistle. "Okay, that looks bad."

"Did you find Gerry?" Kurt asked, trying still to get Logan more upright.

"Can't read your lips in here, sorry," Clint said, gesturing to his ear. "Too dark."

"Right," Kurt muttered to himself and again tried to shift Logan's weight before he reached out to touch Clint's arm and teleport all three of them well away from the basement — and onto the rooftop Clint had left behind. It seemed as good a spot as any to regroup.

They could hear the helicopter taking off from the roof — or at least, Kurt and Logan could — and when Clint followed Kurt's gaze, he made a face and shook his head. "Jess said she had Gerry last I talked to her," he said, turning toward Kurt. "She was on the top floor…" He turned toward the building for a moment to see if he could spot Jess, frowning to himself until she finally came out of the ground floor with Gerry, and one of the bamfs teleported down to her to get them up to the roof with the others.

As soon as it was clear that all five of them were set, the bamfs didn't need to be told before they got everyone there straight to Hank's lab without even a moment's pause — seeing as Logan was still out of it, Kurt had been shot, and Gerry wasn't looking good either.

"Hi, honey, we're home," Clint called out before the smoke had even cleared, waving it out of his face as Hank hurried over to assess the damage.

"Oh, my stars and garters," Hank said as he took in the bloody group.

Clint leaned over to Jess. "He just 'stars and garters'-ed, didn't he?"

"Gerry first," Kurt said. "We'll be fine over here."

"Yes, you certainly look it," Hank said dryly, though he was already moving to check over the unconscious young man as both Jess and Clint quickly sat down on either side of him, clearly worried about him. Hank took a moment to lean over Gerry before he let out a little 'hmh' and then made a quick beeline to the cabinet to give the boy a shot. "He's only been sedated. I can reverse that now."

"Oh good," Jess said, letting her shoulders drop a bit.

Hank worked quickly and made sure that his injection was painless and quick — and that all sharp objects were well out of Gerry's way and the lights dimmed just enough so that he didn't think he was being examined. He'd had enough experience working with others that had dealt with Viper and others to know to prepare that much at least. And to top it off, Hank had taken to humming to himself as well — knowing that his voice would be unmistakable.

Which was definitely helpful to Gerry when he started to come out of the sedation and seemed more confused than panicked, his head half tipped to the side until he could focus enough to see who was humming. And then when he did see Jess and Hank and Clint, his expression was immediate relief, his shoulders slumping as he closed his eyes again and muttered, "Oh good."

In an instant, both of his parents wrapped him up in warm hugs, with Jess kissing the top of his head and looking totally relieved to be done with the whole ordeal. Hank left the three of them be for the moment and turned his attention to preparations and cleanup, though he did eventually make his way back to Gerry, since he wanted to redress his leg and be sure nothing had been put _in _the stitched-up wound.

Rather than risk setting anything off if there _was _something horrible left behind, Hank took Gerry to a simple X-ray as well as an ultrasound, though it was clear from the X-ray that she had left a simple tracer just underneath his skin.

"Easy enough to contend with," Hank said with a kind smile. "I'll just administer a simple numbing agent, drape the area, and we'll get that ridiculous tracer out in a flash. Whenever you're ready, Mr. Drew. I'm sure that Viper knew where you were headed, at any rate."

Gerry took a deep breath and held it before he nodded. "Yeah, she knows where I am anyway even without that thing," he had to agree.

Hank gave him a kind smile and left him with his parents for a moment to check on the other two before pressuring the boy to do anything. "Mr. Wagner … how is it that you neglected to mention your own gunshot wound in the summary of events from this evening?"

Kurt simply waved a hand dismissively. "There was so much else going on," he said.

"And you didn't want to draw attention to it, I'm sure," Hank said as he pulled the portable X-Ray over to him. "Is it just the one we're looking at? Or do you have multiples that you're hiding from me?"

Kurt couldn't help but smirk as he shook his head. "Far be it from me to try to hide that much from you," he teased.

Hank smirked right back at him and took a few shots of the arm that had been injured, only to report back that it looked to be a clean wound that would only require a thorough cleaning and some stitches — which, of course, he started on right away, though he was sure to stand so that Gerry could watch the right way to _clean _a wound if he wanted to.

And once he'd finished with Kurt, he moved on to Logan — mostly picking off the spent rounds that had worked their way out. "I'm sure K can handle him once he wakes up," Hank said to Kurt.

"Of course," Kurt said with a smile and a nod, glad to see that Logan was already looking so much better.

With a smile Kurt's way, Hank finally made his way back to where Gerry was talking very quietly with both of his parents, and the young man looked a bit nervous when he tipped his head Hank's way. "Is there ... can you knock me out?" he asked.

"It's not that complex a procedure, but I can certainly do as much if you require it." Hank gave him a smile. "I can even avoid a needle if you prefer."

Gerry nodded. "It's just that ... I don't want to freak Mom out any more than she already is if _I _freak out and… and I've been able to tamp it down pretty well except the whole... " He gestured down at his leg. "...surgery with no anesthesia… thing."

Hank was careful not to show his reaction to the clearly already nervous young man. "Whenever you're ready," Hank told him. "No rush."

"Let's just get it over with," Gerry said. "So it can start healing without the tracer in the way."

Hank nodded and headed off to gather up what was needed, and when he returned, he asked Gerry to lean back and then gave him an oxygen mask. "Just hold that over your nose and mouth and start to count backwards. When you wake up, it'll be over."

Gerry looked visibly relieved and nodded. "Thanks, Dr. Blue," he said — and didn't even get to start counting after that.

* * *

The moment the tracker died, Viper knew it. She'd been watching it closely while she nursed her injuries, irritated that she'd lost her grandson … and more irritated that her enterprises in Madripoor were in shambles. She wasn't _ruined_ … but she wasn't doing well. At all.

She had been dealt heavy damage and was only on her feet because she was too irritated to keep from pacing, even if she had a slight limp. She always hated the taste of her own blood in her mouth. And Jessica …. _Jessica _knew better than to behave like that.

To make matters worse, she was just about ready to storm that silly little school in Canada when her girl hadn't answered her text. She was working up a plan to raid … someone. Either the X-Men or the Canadians. But then, one of her men came and knocked at her door with a very sheepish sounding "Madame Hydra, there's a message for you."

He looked properly nervous as she turned on her heel and stalked over to him, her eyes narrowed as she took him in. He held out the letter, his hand trembling slightly as she seemed reluctant to take the paper. The corner of her mouth tugged slightly, and before she took the paper, she stepped in and kissed him — only to take the letter as the man staggered backward, already choking on his own tongue.

She was livid as she opened the envelope, only to raise an eyebrow at the message inside.

_I couldn't send this to you over email or over the phone. I'm being watched._

_The X-Men sent K to interrogate me, and she figured out that I was involved in the kidnapping in Chicago. It was a disaster. I did everything you told me to, but she still figured it out somehow._

_The only thing I managed to do was convince them to keep me here in Canada. They think I'm a lost, manipulated soul or something. Like you said, they can't resist trying to "save" someone. But they know you've been guiding me._

_I need to lie low. Guardian is watching me to see if you'll contact me. He's "protecting" me. Thankfully, he doesn't realize how deeply the drug ring runs here, so I could send it through one of the runners I converted._

_I'm so sorry. This whole thing has been a disaster ever since they sent K and Cyclops up here. The entire staff is watching out._

_I still want to follow you. But I can salvage this. Make them think I'm a convert to their side. Please give me a chance to fix this._

_-Jamie_

Viper was frustrated to the point of screaming at the words on the page, but she pushed back the impulse as she glared. As the man she'd kissed moments before choked on his own spittle, she snapped her fingers for her lieutenants. "I want the bounties on all of the X-Men tripled from where they stand right now." She wheeled around to glare at the nearest lieutenant. "And bring me the half-Kree."

* * *

Gerry was glad to be out of the lab and back to Avengers Tower. To his own room. His own bed.

And he was glad to be with his _real _family again. Not that he had a choice in the matter when neither his mom or his dad seemed like they were going to even _think _about letting him out of their sights. Not that he was complaining.

The rescue had been rough on all of them, so Gerry wasn't surprised when his dad fell asleep at the foot of his bed when the three of them had been talking. But his mom stayed up with him, her face lined with concern that told Gerry she probably wasn't going to drift off so easily.

"Mom, I'm okay," Gerry said at last, trying to ease her mind. He knew the last few weeks had been killer for him, but he hated that they had been hard for her, too, especially because he _knew _how much his mom had thrown into making sure he was raised into the kind of life she had always wanted for herself - baseball games, doting family, the works. The _normal _life.

Well, as normal as a superheroic life could be, anyway.

"Sweetheart, no one is okay after something like this," Jess pointed out. She _sounded _tired, but she was also wide awake with worry, and that only had Gerry worried about her even more. It was a pretty nasty cycle, really. She ran her hand over Gerry's hair for just a moment, pausing when he finally looked up at her. "But as far as prepared goes, I'm going to have to give credit where it's due. You're probably more prepared than anyone could be. But there is no way that you're okay."

"Yeah, well…" Gerry shrugged lightly. "That's all down to you, Mom."

"I'm just sorry you actually _needed _the preparation," Jessica said. "I should have done something sooner … or encouraged Logan to. Something should have prevented this. And that's on me. Or … us. But not _you_."

"No way, Mom," Gerry promised quickly. "She's totally crazy. Not like you can fix _that_."

"I know. And that's the problem. We've been trying to handle this like Avengers. _Honorably_, even," Jessica said. "And the truth is, I've known she was a nutjob from the first time I met her. I just … it's hard to explain. But I didn't want to be the one to kill her. Until now."

"Dad said you tried," Gerry said.

"Yeah, but if I'd been trying _harder _before this happened, maybe it would have been avoided." Jessica held up one hand. "I'm not trying to take on too much blame, I'm just mad she got to you and I'm mad she got _away_."

"Me too," Gerry said, then paused. "For the record, I took her own drugs and pumped them into her, so you know… like mother like son?" he offered, trying to get her to smile.

"I wish that would have been effective, but … well." She leaned over to kiss the top of his head. "You did your best. And I hope it hurt her."

"Definitely made her mad," Gerry agreed, leaning into her until he'd pulled his arm around her in a hug. "Hey, um, I never did get to find out if the girl I was out with - is she okay? I kind of realized afterward I didn't specify with Viper that I'd go if she didn't _kill _her, just didn't want to experiment on her, and it's been bugging me."

"She was interrogated by K," Jessica said. "So she's fine, physically, but she's suspected of having _helped_."

Gerry frowned, unconsciously leaning into Jessica harder. "Oh. Well that just sucks."

"If she had a hand in it, you know they'll figure it out."

"Yeah, I just hate to think I inherited _Dad's _dating issues," Gerry said with half a smirk.

Jessica gave him a dry look. "Yeah, no. You definitely didn't."

"Good, because I already have enough issues with Viper, you know, trying to play grandma, so I'm full up of issues."

"Let's not ever talk about her like that again, huh?" Jessica suggested, pulling a spectacular face.

"Hey, I had to _live _it," Gerry pointed out, pulling almost exactly the same expression.

"Welcome to the 'very bad no good awful' club," Jessica teased.

"Exclusive membership," Gerry said, rolling his eyes.

"Unfortunately, yes."

Gerry nodded, falling silent as he nestled into his mom's shoulder. "I'm just glad I'm home," he said at last. "That's… all the feeling I have the energy for right now."

"That's all you need right now."

"If I promise to cry on you when I get around to feeling like crying, will you go to sleep?" Gerry teased lightly.

"Maybe after you do," Jessica said.

"Okay," Gerry said, though with how similar the two of them were, it was a long time before they _both _drifted off.

* * *

"Hi, Hank," Gerry said as he came down to Hank's lab, already a pro at using the crutches with his taped-up leg still healing, though he still had to get the dressings changed.

"Mr. Drew," Hank said warmly. "How are you feeling this fine day?"

"Feeling alright," he said as he hopped up to sit on the exam table. "I … I actually wanted to ask you something. Professional advice, so to speak."

"Of course," Hank replied as he pulled up a chair.

The young man nodded, thinking his question over for a second. Even though he'd already been cracking jokes with his dad, he'd been a bit quieter than usual, though not nearly to the extent that Hank had worried would be the case. Though he was definitely spending plenty of time in his head.

"The Hippocratic Oath," Gerry said at last. "I … can I even take it now?" He looked entirely serious, and he wasn't moving around with the frenetic energy that he usually had to him.

Hank frowned and tipped his head as he watched the young man for a long moment. "I'm not sure that I understand why you'd be ineligible suddenly."

Gerry closed his eyes for a second and shook his head. "I thought Mom told you," he said quietly. "Viper… she gave me a four-week crash course in the worst possible side of medical training."

"Oh!" Hank looked taken aback as he watched the young man's features before he was sure to rest a hand on his slumped shoulders. "Oh, that's not quite the same. You're not a physician, you haven't taken the oath — and frankly, there wasn't a thing you could have avoided that wouldn't have been done by a much crueler hand."

"That ... that was kind of what I was thinking," Gerry admitted. "That's… why I let her teach me… so she wouldn't…"

"Gerry," Hank said, letting his voice drop to a low, soothing rumble. "The truth is: I have been forced to do things to my fellow mutants over the course of a long career in the X-Men. You cannot beat yourself up too badly when you're doing your utmost."

Gerry nodded for a moment and then cleared his throat. "I, um…" He shifted again. "I still want to be a doctor."

"Then by all means, please, don't let that veridian bat interrupt that process."

"Shouldn't I … not want to though?" Gerry asked, leaning forward with his eyes wide. "After everything that happened…"

"You shouldn't want to torture people," Hank said. "But to help them? Absolutely."

Gerry let out a breath and looked honestly relieved as he nodded and cleared his throat again. "I guess I just — I just thought ... when I did my first surgery it'd be… not… that."

"And it will be," Hank assured him. "I'd advise you not to consider anything you did with her even remotely related to medicine."

"I hate to tell you this, Hank, but memorizing exotic drug interactions, learning the different surgical equipment, learning how to make an incision and … all of it was going to come up in medical school."

"Yes. and when it comes up in medical school, you'll learn the right way to do it."

Gerry nodded and took another deep breath. "Would you help me?" he asked. "I can't… really… go back to Chicago, and I don't want to give up."

"Young Mr. Drew, I would be honored to help you," Hank said gently. "There's no reason you can't learn here just like Tyler did."

"Please," Gerry said with a small smile.


	10. No Patience

Krissy flopped dramatically into the couch next to Sying, her hair still wet from the shower she'd taken after the _serious _workout Elin had just put her through sparring. "My best friend. Is trying. To kill me."

Sying didn't even look up from the book he was reading — one that Charlie had recommended to him that he'd ended up getting _incredibly _invested in. "No she isn't."

Krissy let out all her breath. "No, she's just _stuck _because the stupid… mutant arms race or whatever on top of everything Gerry went through. No one will let us _go _anywhere, but especially not her family."

"That's an accurate description of it," Sying said with a little smirk, finally looking up and putting a bookmark in his place.

"It is." She pushed her hair back from her face. "I know she's frustrated. So's James. Kari's been asking him to help her with some stuff… he's working with Charlie on that emotional Cerebro thing too. But she's trying to kill me."

"If you say so, Krissy," Sying said, shaking his head at her.

"Chance is sparring with her now," Krissy told him. "He can't keep her on her toes with 'porting, but he can hang in there longer than I can." She sat up a bit and smiled fondly. "I think he fights out of spite. Like. Really. It powers him, Sying."

Sying laughed. "You always get more dramatic when you're exhausted."

"Gee, am I tired? I never would have guessed from the fact that I _don't want to pick up my arms_."

Sying laughed again and shook his head. "Alright, alright, I get it."

Krissy grinned at him and shifted so that she could look at him upside down. "What about you?" she asked.

"Oh, I keep up with Elin just fine," Sying said.

She laughed. "No, I mean… Penny's gone home for the semester… how come you're not in LA on the beach right now?"

"Mom and Dad are bringing everyone up here for Christmas again. Mom wouldn't miss a Christmas with Grampa Wolvie."

She tipped her head back to look at him. "Right. And their semester still isn't over."

Sying nodded. "I'm headed down there as soon as I finish this chapter, though," he said, tipping his head toward his book. "Ael wanted to go to the aquarium _again_, and Mom and Dad are busy with finals, so I promised I'd take him."

"You're a good big brother," she said, grinning up at him.

"I have an easy job," he laughed. "Ael just wants to study marine biology all the time… and the twins, I swear, they don't even have to speak words anymore. They take care of each other."

"Weird twin thing?"

"Must be," Sying said with a smirk.

"Mom and Dad are off in the Alps for their anniversary, so I'm watching the zoo — but we're staying with the Howletts nights, because not even I can handle Kade when it's time for bed."

"It has to come out sometimes?" he offered, smirking wider.

"Oooh, I hate you sometimes."

"No, you don't," Sying said, smiling at her. When she just grinned crookedly up at him, he shook his head. "You could always come to the aquarium if you wanted a break from part-demon babysitting."

"As long as I get back in time to wrangle Kaleb while K works her magic with my imp of a baby brother," Krissy said.

Sying waved his hand. "Not a problem. As long as you don't mind being carried."

"No, I don't mind. I mean, if I did, I think I'd be in trouble on the team, considering this week's my turn to play the mutant in need of saving."

Sying grinned. "Alright. Let me finish this chapter, and we'll head out. Ael wanted to show you something anyway. I think he was reading some old ocean books and came across a whole study on a pirate wreck or something that he thinks we should check out this summer."

Krissy smiled up at him and righted herself. "Great! I love that kid."

"He kind of thinks all Elves hung the moon," Sying said. "Whole family of pirates."

"And he's right — we're all amazing," Krissy said.

Sying shook his head at her and went back to his book. He'd actually been really enjoying the back-and-forth that he had with Krissy now that he had a girlfriend. It was like she had stopped waiting for him to get jealous or try to win her over and could just… be his friend. Which was nice, because as much as he adored dancing with Penny to the music in his headphones until the sky got dark and they realized they'd been out until nightfall… he liked having his friends around him. All of them.

Finally, Sying set aside the book, and Krissy immediately burst into a grin, teleporting away and returning with her coat and gloves and earmuffs. "I swear to you, my ears turn blue whenever you run with me," she explained, settling them over her ears.

"You have sensitive ears."

"Duh." She grinned up at him as they headed out and reached into her coat pocket to show him a beautiful wooden whale. "Got this for Ael last time Papa took us to Europe. I saw it in Norway and thought it looked like something he could add to his collection."

"He'll love it," Sying said, grinning before he simply picked Krissy up and took off running.

It was a long enough run that it was a good workout every time Sying did it — sort of like when someone without super speed ran several miles training for a marathon. So it was going to take him about twenty minutes to get there, unless he really rushed it. If he _pushed_, he could get it down to fifteen.

But he always tried to slow it down whenever he was carrying anyone. It could be jarring, and not everyone could take it, the way some people got sick when teleporting.

Still, even though he wasn't running at his best, he _felt _the difference when he was running cross-country one second, and the next, he was running at the same speed as anyone else who was in shape in the least. And Krissy was suddenly heavier to carry.

It still took several steps for him to come to a stop as he glanced around, but he'd trained with dampeners with Logan enough to know immediately what was slowing him down. "Krissy, can you 'port?" he asked, just to be sure.

She looked wide-eyed for a moment, since for someone without super speed, the whole thing had only taken a matter of seconds, and she couldn't possibly have fully processed the change yet. But it was clear she realized what was up when she tried to teleport and couldn't.

He immediately turned around to start heading back, setting Krissy down so that she could 'port them out as soon as the dampener was up — so that no one would know where they went after that.

But the path was closed off — and it didn't take much to see that there were soldiers all around them. "You don't need to make this harder on yourself," one of them called out.

"Funny, I was just going to tell you the same thing," Sying shot back as he and Krissy settled into identical fighting stances.

"Cute," the same man said as he raised his rifle. "Only we're not gonna back down from a couple of scrawny teenagers." With a word from their leader, the soldiers began to move in, but it was clear that they didn't think it was going to take anywhere near their full force to take the kids.

Which was really their first mistake. Krissy set out a little scoffing noise as she looked Sying's way and mouthed out 'cute?' before she tipped her head toward the soldiers, and they both dove in.

Sying rushed the guy who had called out to them, just because he'd been way too smug and Sying wasn't going to stand for it. He ducked the rifle, hit the man in the face with a palm strike before he could really react, and then jammed his elbow into his windpipe. He went down, and now Sying had his rifle.

And as Sying spun around to start picking off soldiers with the stolen gun, he made sure to keep an eye on Krissy, who was holding her own nicely and had just yanked the feet out from underneath a soldier who managed to knock her down. When the guy tried to get back up, Sying shot him, and Krissy looked back for just a moment to smile his way before she got to her feet and dove back in.

It was exactly the kind of thing they had been practicing with the team, with training, with everything else. And between the two of them, they'd sent a dozen Hydra soldiers down before things started to go south.

One of the Hydra soldiers managed to grab Krissy's tail as she spun around to face the soldier next to him, and it was enough to totally knock her off balance when he yanked on it hard. His buddy knocked her feet the rest of the way out from underneath her, and before she could get up again, there was the barrel of a gun right in her face.

"You gonna come along nice or am I gonna have to make this easy on me?" the soldier said. "Doesn't matter to me if you come back in one piece or not."

Krissy just blinked for a second before she almost imperceptibly nodded, knowing Hydra wouldn't hesitate just because they were kids either.

The soldier started yanking Krissy around until she was collared and restrained hand and foot before they turned to Sying and kept a gun on Krissy. "Your choice, tough guy. Is she gonna be breathing or not?"

Sying met Krissy's gaze and then very slowly lowered the gun. "Let her go," he said.

"Not a chance." To emphasize his point, they started roughly hauling her off.

Sying took a step forward and then stopped when the Hydra soldiers raised their weapons again. This was starting to feel really familiar.

"Screw 'em, Sying. Just run!" Krissy shouted at him, almost angrily, as they started to drag her off.

But that just wasn't something Sying could do. He shook his head and held up both hands, setting the gun on the ground. "I'm with her," he said, keeping both hands raised until the Hydra soldiers approached him and yanked his arms behind him, restraining and collaring him the same way they had done Krissy as he bit back the familiar rising panic and the dread in the pit of his stomach.

"We'll get out of this," Krissy whispered low enough for him and not the guards.

He glanced her way with wide eyes for a moment before he made a visible effort to swallow his panic and nod her way.

"I mean, they picked the kids with the fastest-moving dads on the planet. They are _so _screwed," Krissy muttered, still talking to him quietly, which honestly _was _helping with the whole breathing problem that came with the panic of being captured and collared, and he appreciated it a lot. "Not to _mention _our moms."

Sying almost smirked her way for that one, though he couldn't come up with anything clever to say just yet as the soldiers dragged them into the back of a truck and took off.

The whole way out, Krissy continued to talk to Sying in that same low tone, her eyes wide but her gaze never leaving her obviously panicking friend. "Really, we're getting out of this," she was saying. "And Ael will still get his aquarium visit, and Kade will still be a tiny little monster, and your parents will probably never let you go anywhere again because you've inherited their trouble magnet problems, _clearly_. I mean, we all have it? But I've _heard _the stories of your mom growing up, Sying…"

But the running commentary more or less dried up when the truck stopped and the soldiers dragged them both out of it. Hydra had apparently taken over what looked like an old… school or something, if the playground out front was anything to go by, though the place looked more or less deserted.

When they finally came to a stop in the large room that looked like it once was an office of sorts, the two kids certainly weren't expecting to see _Viper,_ looking entirely pleased from where she was seated. "It's about time you did something right," she said to her soldiers. "And you even brought me a spare, too. Lovely. I'm sure someone will find a use for a little teleporter."

"She's with me," Sying said quickly.

"Not for long," Viper purred. "You're free to spend what little time you have left together — well. Together. Be sure you say your goodbyes."

"Don't you get tired of getting your butt kicked by the X-Men?" Krissy sneered. "You seem to _enjoy _it."

She smiled her way and propped her chin in the palm of her hand. "By the time the X-Men figure out where you two disappeared to, you'll be on opposite ends of the globe. I have no plans at all to hold on to either of you."

"Oh good, because Gerry says that _sucks_," Krissy shot back.

"Not as much as what you're going to deal with will," Viper promised. She waved her hand, and the two junior X-Men were dragged off to one of the rooms in the building and locked in.

* * *

It didn't take long for the kids in Westchester to figure out that something was off. When Chance finally talked Elin into taking a break, the two of them both looked irritated at being ditched by their friends. "I swear she gets her kicks out of this sometimes," Elin said.

"Both of them do," Chance agreed, shaking his head at the situation.

"So tired of getting ditched," Elin muttered under her breath before she raised her voice so Chance could hear her. "So now what?"

"I'm sure Krissy will text me sooner or later," Chance said. "In the meantime… I love sparring with you, El, I really do, but I need to do something _quiet_ for a while. At least so I don't drop."

"No, you're right. Your dad has it set up so I can't play in there more than a set amount of time, and I was just about to time out anyhow." Elin looked irritated at the thought. "So … I guess if I haven't bored you to tears? Your turn to pick the distraction. And if I have, then … I'll just go watch James trying to get his head to explode."

"Oh yeah, because James trying to make his head explode is so much more interesting," Chance deadpanned.

"I was giving you the option to get away from me gracefully," she said, rolling her eyes.

Chance shook his head. "Well, I suck at chess — at least, compared to my sisters? — but what about a game of luck like Yahtzee or something?"

"Sure, whatever you think will work," she agreed, gesturing for him to lead the way.

But after a game of Yahtzee and another game of Rummikub and with still no text from Krissy, Chance was starting to get nervous. "She's never this quiet," he said, obviously worried.

"No kidding," Elin agreed, already into her phone with a little frown.

"Text Sying?" Chance said, already writing up a _Where are you? _message to Krissy.

"I sent to both of them, but you might get a response quicker," Elin said. "He's been wanting to work on the ship."

"Yeah, and she's been taking care of her siblings with her parents gone, but…" Chance shook his head. "She usually checks her phone…"

Elin frowned and pulled up a little app that James had come up with and hit the button to see where exactly the purple Elf had disappeared to, only to sit up when the pin showed up nowhere near Westchester. "Where's your dad?" She was already getting to her feet to head off to talk to Scott as she said it.

Chance rushed to catch up to her. "He's in the lab with Hank. He wanted to check on Gerry's progress since Viper—"

Elin broke into a run, not bothering to explain to Chance what she saw. "We're missing two people," Elin said when they got to the lab. "And I think … if James' program is right, I can see where they're going."

Scott spun to face her and then immediately started moving, gesturing for her to follow him. "Who's missing, and where?" he asked.

"Krissy and Sying, and both of their phones are headed straight south from the center of the country," Elin said, handing over her phone so he could see for himself.

Scott swore under his breath. "How long have they been missing? Do you know?" he asked.

"I was sparring with her not … what?" she said, turning to Chance. "Maybe two hours?"

"Two and a half," he said. "And she usually texts either one of us whenever she does something, so if she and Sying were headed somewhere… she would have texted once they got there."

Scott nodded. "Elin, keep your eye on their phones and tell me where they stop. I'll call Kurt and Noh so they're aware and then let Logan and K know."

She nodded and took a seat nearby, sure that he wanted her to be easy to find.

"I'll get Logan and K," Chance offered, and when Scott nodded, he took off, almost skidding into K as she was coming in from the barn.

"Where's the fire, sunshine?" K asked.

"Krissy and Sying are missing," he said in a breath.

"How the hell did they manage that?" she asked, though she didn't go deeper into the house, already thinking of going to where Logan probably had Kade napping on his chest.

"We don't know yet, but their phones are already pinging a trip south."

"Alright, I'll go get him. Let your dad know he's on his way down, alright?" K turned and headed off for Logan, already well aware that she'd be sitting with the little ones.

By the time Logan got to the War Room, Kurt and Kate had already teleported there from their anniversary trip, and Noh had run Jubilee over, too.

"What do we know?" Logan asked as he headed over to take a seat next to Elin.

"Not much," Scott admitted. "According to Noh, Sying and Ael had plans for this weekend, so the most likely scenario is that the two of them were headed to LA when they got caught up somehow, but neither of them told anybody before they left, so we don't know for sure." He gestured toward Elin. "Their phones are still headed due south. They're over the Caribbean right now."

"Can you relay the final destination if we just head out?" Logan asked, looking up at Kurt.

"I'll have Elin send it to you," Scott said.

Logan nodded and gave Elin a little kiss on the temple before he and Kurt headed for the jet.

"Is there a way to determine where they were?" Noh asked Elin. "If I can trace the path back, I can find out who took them — if it was bounty hunters after the price on mutants' heads or if it was an enemy of the X-Men…"

"Yeah, I'm sure there is. You'd have to ask James, though. It's his program," Elin said.

Noh nodded at that and was already headed out to find James as Kate pulled on Chance's arm. "You're with me, Shanghai. We're going to do a little PI work and see if anything pings on the black market with those two."

And Jubilee just sat down next to Elin and leaned over to give the girl a little snuggle.

_We have the exciting job,_ Elin projected. _Staring at the phone and not able to do anything._

_You're forgetting the part where we also stare at our fearless leader and make sure he doesn't keel over, _Jubilee projected back. _Very important_.

_Too bad you don't need to be a Hawkeye to see that._

_He's been like that since I met him. Really._

Elin tipped her head sideways and rested it on Jubilee's shoulder. _They didn't say they were going anywhere._

_I know. Trust me, I know. I married the impatient speed demon. I. Know._

_It's just stupid because I can't go anywhere to help either, _she said, knowing full well that at least Jubilee would get it.

Jubilee pulled Elin into a little deeper snuggle. _Totally stupid, _she agreed. _If there was a way to paff them all at once, and I thought it would help? I so would. But it'll probably just make them stupider._

* * *

Noh wasn't at all surprised to find that James was hard at work when Noh found him. For just a second, he leaned in the doorway, smiling as he watched his little brother giving his all to find his son. Then, he kicked off from the doorway and came to sit down by James. "I need to know where they were in addition to where they are now."

"Yeah, I've got that running right now," James said, scooting over so Noh could see the program he was running for himself.

Noh smiled as he leaned forward to look over James' work, though the easy, brotherly smile turned into something much brighter and wider the more he saw of what James had done. He was still so young, and yet looking at the logic of his program, Noh could see a brilliant mind at work. It was advanced, and it was careful, and it was impeccable work.

"James," Noh said softly, then shook his head and simply pulled his little brother into a hug and kissed the top of his head. "You are nothing short of wonderful, you know that? I couldn't be prouder to call you my brother."

"Is it normal for you to get so emotional over a little program? It's not even that complex … anyone can do it."

Noh smirked and shook his head. "You have a _wonderful _mind, little brother. This world hardly knows what potential you will unlock."

"Right. As long as it's something unlockable from here and doesn't require any _risk_ like you know … _leaving the building_ without an armed escort."

Noh smirked and gave James a hug anyway, leaning back to see what James and his program could do. Yes, he was still _deeply _concerned for his son. But now that he had seen what James could do, he was confident that Sying and Krissy would not be lost for long.


	11. Magneto Was Right

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been waiting for the next few chapters to come out for hilarious reasons ... <3

Krissy was honestly worried about Sying.

He'd been doing alright at first, biting back his panic when they were face-to-face with Viper, but it seemed like the longer they were stuck in the room, tied up and collared and with no phones or comms on them, the worse Sying seemed to get.

They'd been locked up for about an hour when it started to get really bad, though, to the point that Krissy didn't think Sying was even hearing her as she tried to talk to him to get him to calm down. He was struggling to breathe, his eyes closed and tears streaming down his face.

Krissy didn't know what to do. She knew that Sying had struggled when he got back from space, and she knew that he'd spent _ages _last semester and last fall trying to get a handle on it. She knew that there was always a moment in sims and training if any bad guys ever managed to get their hands or arms around his neck that he looked like the world was ending, but he'd always pushed past it.

But now… it just didn't look like he could do that right now. Maybe because there were no bad guys to fight back against, or maybe because the longer they were there, the more it became clear that there wasn't an _end _in sight, like there was in a sim or in missions with the rest of the team.

Krissy could feel her own stomach churning with dread. After all, they hadn't told anyone where they were going. They'd never _had _to with how quickly she and Sying could get places. It was _supposed _to be a surprise for Ael. But even if they _had _told someone that they were going to LA, how would anyone know where in their cross-country trip they had ended up?

They were zip-tied hand and foot, so it was difficult to maneuver from where they had just been thrown into the room, but Krissy managed to scoot herself far enough over that she was by Sying as he struggled to get a breath. She was grateful the Hydra soldiers hadn't trapped her tail as she pulled it around to rest on Sying's shoulder and then touched his face with the end of her tail, gently, so that she didn't startle him.

"_Breathe_," she urged her friend. "You need to breathe." When it still looked like he was struggling, she shook her head. "You're not on Chandilar, Sying," she told him quietly. "Alright? It's going to be okay. We're X-Men, remember? We'll end up on top… somehow."

He didn't seem to be listening to her, but the longer she talked and brushed her tail against his face, his arms, his hair, the quieter his gasping became, and it finally looked like his breathing was starting to even out. After all, Krissy was pretty darn sure no one on Chandilar had ever snuggled him with their tail.

Now that Sying was at least _breathing_, Krissy allowed herself to relax, though she didn't stop trying to snuggle him the only way she could.

For a long time, it was quiet in the room. Krissy had run out of things to say, and she was honestly too worried about Sying to think of much else, but he was getting it together a little better, resting his head on her shoulder and trying to get the waterworks under control now that he could breathe again.

"I'm sorry," he muttered at last, startling Krissy when she heard it.

"I really don't mind," she promised. "I'm snuggly and fuzzy. That's kind of perfect for a shoulder to cry on."

The corner of Sying's mouth twitched for a moment before he shifted slightly so he was sitting up more on his own steam. "And I appreciate it," he said in a hoarse sort of voice. It was obvious he wasn't completely done panicking, but he was trying to get there for her sake, and talking seemed to help. "But I meant… that was a total set-up, Krissy."

"Yeah," Krissy said with a sigh. She'd figured as much when Viper had called her a 'spare', but she wasn't about to bring it up when she knew that Sying had to be feeling pretty miserable already. "Don't worry about it."

"They were waiting for me to walk right into the net. You shouldn't have been there."

"Oh my gosh, do you hear yourself?" Krissy asked, turning to face him properly. "Your dad would be ashamed of you! Don't you know anything about time travel? No dwelling on 'coulda woulda shoulda!'"

"Okay, I'm confused — are you quoting my dad or Celine Dion now?" Sying asked with almost a smirk.

Krissy stared at Sying for a second before she broke into a disbelieving laugh. "There's the Sying I know."

"Yeah, sorry…."

"Don't be," she said quickly. "This royally sucks, and you have literally every reason to panic. _I'm _panicking!" She held up her tail so that Sying could see that it was quivering. "I don't know what's going to happen, but I know you have to _breathe_, because you're one of my best friends, and I _need _you to come out the other end of this with me alive, alright?"

Sying nodded. "I can do that."

"Good, because who else is going to sing pirate shanties with me and go sailing on the Caribbean in the Danger Room?"

"Kari?"

"Shut up, Sying."

Sying smiled softly and rested his head on her shoulder again, and the two of them had fallen back into silence by the time the Hydra soldiers came back for them — or, more specifically, came back for Sying.

One of the soldiers wrenched open the door and smirked when he saw that the two of them had managed to curl up together. "Well, isn't this precious," he all but sneered as he and his partner stalked into the room. He went right to Sying and simply grabbed the young man by the foot, dragging him away from Krissy even as Sying tried unsuccessfully to squirm away.

"Leave him alone!" Krissy practically shrieked, still holding onto his arm with her tail until the second Hydra soldier grabbed her by the arms and yanked her away from Sying, tossing her aside unceremoniously.

"Don't touch her!" Sying shouted at the same time, but that just had both of the Hydra soldiers chuckling as the second Hydra goon yanked Sying upright from the floor and the two of them simply started to drag him off by his arms, slamming the door behind them and leaving Krissy behind.

Viper wasn't in the room that she had been in when Sying and Krissy were brought to her — she'd probably left to go screw with someone else — but one of her lieutenants was running the show as the soldiers dragged Sying into the room.

They weren't the only ones there, though. Several men in uniform were already waiting for Sying to arrive, and once the door was closed and he was there, held between the two Hydra soldiers, the trio of black-uniformed soldiers muttered to each other. Sying recognized the language as Russian, and the gist of the muttering was pleasure, more or less. Acquiring an X-Man, even a junior X-Man, for their military program was a big deal.

"As agreed," Viper's lieutenant said, gesturing to Sying, who was feeling more and more like he was going to freak out all over again. "You can see for yourself he's in excellent condition."

The highest-ranking officer stepped forward with a critical sort of look on his face, even going so far as to reach out and turn Sying's head by the chin both ways, completely ignoring the look of loathing Sying shot him and even seeming pleased by the instinctive hiss that had managed to escape past Sying's lips, before he turned back to the lieutenant and handed him something. Payment details.

And just like that, as soon as the payment was processed and the lieutenant had confirmed it, Sying was handed off. Instead of the two Hydra goons, the two Russian soldiers behind the head guy grabbed an arm apiece and started to drag him along, neither of them speaking a word to him, not that Sying was all that talkative either. He was still in total shock, panicking all over again as the word _slave _ran over and over through his head.

_Not again. Please, not again._

Somehow, though, it was easier to keep from curling into a crying ball like he'd done earlier with Krissy now than it had been when he was alone with her. Now, there were soldiers that he could turn his panic into anger against, and even though he couldn't do much to fight them as they loaded him into the back of a truck, he kept up the steady glare and the low hiss the whole time — though the soldiers ignored him for the whole drive out to where a jet was waiting for them.

* * *

Before Peter got the alert that something was wrong, he had been visiting his Aunt May and Erik with Sara and Lydia in tow. Lydia was getting old enough now that she was starting to say a few words at a time, though "Wuv you May" was a clear favorite with how much she was saying it all the time sitting in Aunt May's lap and getting warm smiles and hugs.

It was, all in all, _nice _to be able to take a break from assistant director-ing and have some time with family, especially with Hanukkah right around the corner. Lydia had already been spoiled for gifts by just about every single SHIELD agent on the helicarrier, since pretty much the entire organization of SHIELD had adopted her as their mascot, and it wasn't uncommon for her to get toys and snacks from Phil Coulson or Clay Quartermain in particular — they were the _worst _perpetrators of the spoiling, and she just _knew _they would have something new for her if she came over and said "wuv you" to them.

But Peter had only been at the house for maybe half an hour before his phone rang, and after a very upset Kate on the other end explained that her baby girl and her favorite half-Kree little boy were missing, Peter was already headed to the living room where his SHIELD laptop was to see what reports he could pull up for her, promising to let her know if he had anything to help.

By the time he hung up with Kate, he was shaking his head to himself and pulling up all of the latest reports. The X-Men really didn't have much to go on that wasn't the phone tracking, and even that wasn't a for-sure thing. They didn't know if it was the MRD… Hydra… someone after the bounty on powerful mutants… one of the _dozens _of groups that hated the X-Men….

Of course, the most pressing worry was that the kids had found themselves in the middle of one of the rings trafficking mutants. Viper's was the biggest, obviously, but there were several kingpins running business, and any one of them would have been _thrilled _to get a couple of junior X-Men. And considering the very, very, _very _long list of organizations and countries that would pay through the nose to get one, Peter was already running the reports to see if anybody was bragging on the back channels about new 'weapons', usually code for a powerful mutant.

"We _just _got Gerry back, too," Peter muttered to himself, frowning over the reports. There wasn't any noise yet, but that didn't mean there wouldn't be later… or that something hadn't happened and it was one of the more secretive organizations or countries.

"What's that, Peter?" Erik asked as Lydia snuggled into him.

Peter glanced up distractedly and ran a hand through his hair. "Oh. It's just… " He blew out his breath. "It would just be really nice if people would _not _kidnap kids right before the holidays?"

"Yes, well that's not likely something that will ease up, I'm afraid," Erik replied. "What is it that has SHIELD involved, might I ask?"

"Both Krissy and Sying have gone missing," Peter admitted, going back to his laptop. "I'm just trying to check the reports on the black market and make sure someone didn't, you know, um — _buy _them? SHIELD's been monitoring that kind of thing, but..."

Erik's eyebrows rose and he gently let Lydia slide over to May. "There's a black market for that sort of thing?"

Peter nodded, still a bit distractedly. "Moreso now than it used to be," he said. "You know — more mutants, more countries freaking out and wanting to 'contain' the power or whatever. Get their own, uh, 'weapons.'"

Erik's eyes narrowed as he thought it through, unable to find a reasonable response to that particular statement. "Is this in regards to the appearance that Cyclops made with the UN?"

Peter shrugged lightly, still sifting and checking for an uptick in any activity in Madripoor, since he wasn't seeing any chatter from any countries or anything — yet. "Yeah, it got worse after that," he admitted. "SHIELD's calling it an arms race, more or less. But, you know, with people. Which sucks."

"I see." At that point, Erik was simply looking for a way to gracefully bow out of the gathering. "Please tell me you have some kind of lead on where those two sweet children have gone."

"The X-Men are following the GPS on their phones. I'm just looking for any indication that they could be _not _where their phones are. Because, you know, that's not exactly out of the realm of possibility," Peter said, gesturing to his laptop before he glanced up at Erik and seemed to frown when he saw the man's expression. "But I'm sure we'll find them. This is — I mean, it's _really _fresh. They caught it quick. It's not like with Gerry _at all_."

"Are there any ties between the two incidents? Or is it three, considering there are three children involved?"

"We'll know when we figure out who took them," Peter said. "I mean, I'd hope not? With Gerry, it was a personal interest from Viper, and I mean… Krissy _is _Kate's, but she's not interested in anything to do with medicine or anything like that…" He shook his head and took a deep breath. "Like I said, this is hot off the presses. I'm still looking."

"Would I be terribly off if I were to guess that some of these buyers are jockeying for a more prominent position on the world stage?"

Peter nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty much any military you could think of… a few terror organizations…"

"I should have made an example of them sooner," Erik muttered to himself before he got to his feet.

Peter's head came up fast as he scrambled up from the chair. "Woah, hey, um, no?"

"No?" Erik repeated, looking every bit as formidable as he did in years past.

"I mean ... do you even know where you're going?" Peter tried to reason with him.

"If I had to guess, I'd imagine Russia would be a good place to start. But I'll check in on Westchester before anything else," Erik replied on his way to get his coat. "I won't be too long."

For a second, Peter glanced over at May, who looked incredibly troubled at, well, _all _of it, and then he closed his laptop and rushed after Erik. "Why don't, uh — why don't I come with you? And if I get word on a buyer, we have, you know, a specific target for the… this… thing," he offered, gesturing at Erik in general.

"Thing?" Erik said with a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth. "You're not falling into that old thought process, are you?"

"Me? No." Peter put his free hand over his heart. "I just… 'revenge quest' sounds like something an AD should not be involved with and… y'know... yeah."

"Peter," Erik said consolingly, "there is nothing to be avenged. Yet. As I understand it, this is a _rescue _in the making."

"Yeah, okay," Peter said, though he had one eyebrow raised suspiciously Erik's way as they headed to Westchester, and he tried to fill Erik in on what Kate had told him about the missing kids — which really wasn't much, if he was honest. And some of it was pure speculation that they'd been headed to LA when, with a speedster and a teleporter, it could easily have been that they wanted to run down to, say, Arizona, see the Grand Canyon just because they _could_, and then come back with pictures to show their friends what they missed.

With everyone at the mansion rushing to find something, anything to give them a lead on the location of the two missing kids, Cody was the one to answer the door when Peter and Erik got there, and his eyebrows shot up behind his red glasses when he saw the pair of them.

"Is your father in the War Room?" Erik asked.

Cody nodded. "Yeah. Um. Any news?"

"That's what we're here to find out," Erik replied before he gave him a tight smile that didn't meet his eyes. "I know the way. Thank you."

Scott wasn't the only one in the War Room when Erik and Peter arrived, either — since Elin and Jubilee were still more or less keeping an eye on things, both with the GPS and Scott himself, and Noh was talking with Scott as they put the path that Sying and Krissy had taken on one of Noh's holograms, which was live updating with the GPS information from Elin.

"Any news?" Erik asked as he swept in and took a seat near Elin and Jubilee.

The whole group seemed surprised to see him there, though Noh was the one to answer with, "We know what path they were taking and where they were waylaid in Nebraska." He gestured toward the hologram. "Sying and I take this path all the time; it's the most open one across the heart of the country and affords the least obstacles and likelihood of running past any unsuspecting people."

Erik nodded to himself and narrowed his eyes as he watched the map. "I take it you have people out following the signal?"

"Kurt and Logan are following it now," Scott said.

"And a telepath?"

"Rachel and Kitty went to Nebraska to investigate the spot where they were waylaid," Scott said.

"I thought you had another telepath," Erik said with a little frown.

"Betsy is running the European school right now—"

Erik shook his head and turned to Jubilee. "Charles always said you had the potential. And as I understand it, he was right when you came into your secondary mutation."

Jubilee looked surprised, her eyebrows high on her head, before she looked a bit uncomfortable. "Well, yes, but I'm not ... I'm nowhere near Rachel."

"Few are," he said with a little smile, though the spark behind his eyes was absolutely hard to miss. "Come along. We can go down together." He turned to look Scott's way. "And you know, of course, that Charles didn't have guidance to begin with either. Luckily for you, he told me in detail what he experienced."

Scott frowned Erik's way for a moment before he turned to Jubilee. "Your son, your call."

"Um … _duh. _No brainer," Jubilee said before she got to her feet. "And how many people can say Magneto taught them how to use Cerebro?"

Peter had to grin at her for that one. "You should get a tee shirt made."

"Or a merit badge," she said over her shoulder Scott's way.

Scott waited until Jubilee and Erik had gone before he turned to Peter with his arms crossed and one eyebrow raised.

"Woah, first of all? I do not deserve that look," Peter said. "I didn't know that … okay. So I might have let a little bit slip while I was finishing up work, but I so didn't do it purposely."

"Peter, you're the assistant director of _SHIELD_."

"And I swear to you, I didn't say anything that wasn't in his sphere of knowledge — have you heard of that one before? That's kind of new to me. Sphere … nevermind." Peter shook his head. "So not the point. I just mean … he knew a lot anyhow … just not the fact that it was Sying and Krissy, and I thought … you know. He watches out for all of the kids … I just … didn't think he'd be all … helpful."

"Peter." Scott shook his head. "This is _exactly _the kind of problem that he railed against and brought down _war _to correct."

"Well … in retrospect — _yeah._" Peter let out a breath. "I was just trying to double check on some intel, and he totally sideswiped me. By the way, his first guess was Russia, but there is no chatter that direction. Totally … off topic. Sorta. Sorry."

But at that, Scott actually looked more interested. "They wouldn't brag about it if they were involved," he said thoughtfully.

"No. No, they wouldn't," Peter agreed, nodding his head. "So … I should probably put satellites on that. Excuse me." Peter stepped out of the room, his phone at his ear as he started giving directions to not only monitor Russia closer but to send the intel received straight to the mansion.

He had just hung up when he almost ran into K, who had just finished convincing Kade to go to sleep without his big sister around by having Charlie come snuggle with him.

"Well if you're _here, _that's good, right?" K asked.

"Uh…." Peter rubbed a hand through his hair. "I… followed the supervillain step-uncle, actually."

"Oh," she said, frowning slightly. "That's … that's actually good. Scott won't let me leave on my own, and there is hunting to be done. We need the extra body."

"Um. Are you considering that maybe your metal skeleton self should maybe not go on a hunt with _Magneto_?" Peter pointed out.

"Well, I was thinking of going with Scott, but that's a _much _better idea," K replied. "Thanks, Peter — where is Erik again?"

"Umm. No, I think you should go with Scott. I think _that's _a much better idea than following the floating metal manipulator? Who is known for starting wars over this stuff?"

"Is he floating?" K asked. "That's actually a measure, I'm told."

"Oh, well, for a hot second when we were outside Aunt May's place, but, um—"

"He's fine then," she said with a wave, stopping for a moment where the halls intersected before she nosed down the way Erik had gone.

"Yeah, you say that now, but if it turns out someone _bought _Krissy and Sying, that's not gonna be the case at all," Peter said, following after her.

"It'd be deserved," K called over her shoulder.

Peter shook his head, still following K all the way down to Cerebro, where Jubilee had a bead on Sying's location; it was easier for her to find him, since he was more familiar.

Jubilee looked up when they came in. "Sying's in Irkutsk," she said. "I'm going to check for Krissy next…"

"Oh, Russia, huh?" Peter said quietly, looking toward Erik — and checking to see if he was floating or not. Which he was. And he looked _livid_.

"Logan's in South America," K told Erik. "Whatever you're doing, I'm in."

"We're going to Russia," he informed her.

"Ready when you are," she agreed with a nod.

"Should you — should I — um. What?" Peter stammered, looking between the two incredibly angry-looking people.

"I already projected to Scott," Jubilee whispered over his shoulder. "He's on the way now."

"Oh good, because I don't know how to stop them? Individually? Let alone together?"

"Yeah … best to leave that to the pro," Jubilee agreed.

Erik and K were already in the hall when Scott, looking overly concerned, came rushing down toward them. "Where are you going?" he asked.

"Russia, apparently," K answered. "Taking the jet just in case Erik gets over-taxed."

"And what exactly is your plan here?" Scott demanded. "We _just _had to convince the United Nations that we're not a threat to the sovereignty of nations!"

"Scott, we're going to get a kid — or two — who they are saying is a weaponizable commodity," K replied.

"I'm not arguing that," Scott said. "I just want to know what the plan is."

"This is a surgical strike force," she said. "I can get in and out without anyone ever seeing me — and he can follow the metal to get in too, or to yank me out."

"Then I'm flying," Scott insisted.

"Which will leave us with a panicking trio of parents left here," she pointed out. She turned and gestured to Peter. "Besides. It was his idea."

"Woah, hey, wait, what?" Peter shook his head quickly.

"One of the first things you said when I saw you was that I should go with Erik." K was shaking her head at him. "So Scott can manage from here."

Peter gaped at her. "I… what?"

"You brought it up, Pete," K said, crossing her arms.

"Yeah, and I said you should _not do that thing_!" Peter said, throwing his arms up in the air.

"What's wrong with it?" she asked, moving to stand next to Erik. "He's trying to help."

"We need to be precise here," Scott said. "If this gets out of hand, it'll only prove that we're the terrorist organization they say we are."

"No X-patch," she said. "I swear. I'll go in with a mask — and I won't use the claws."

"And I am a well-known terrorist," Erik said with a smirk K's way.

"If you're paranoid, we'll find a different way in and make sure you can get to the kids without any snags," K told him. "Not the first time I've done something like this."

Scott crossed his arms and frowned at her for a moment before he finally nodded. "I'll need to get updated reports often. I'm not going to lose either one of you on this either. You _know _they'd love to get their hands on you."

"I'll operate as if I was dealing with the United States instead of Russia," K promised. "Which should mean something to you."

Finally, Scott nodded. "Fine."

"Um? Hello?" Peter said, looking entirely distressed. "How … I mean … never did I think that I would need _Logan _to come and be the voice of reason? How is this even happening?"

"If you think you can run intel and stick with them, you're welcome to go with them," Scott pointed out.

"Wait, what?" Peter said, wide-eyed.

Erik smirked Peter's way. "We only have a location for one of the children. Perhaps SHIELD can find the second. That would be helpful."

"And let us know where it is if the boys aren't back by then," K added.

"I… o...okay," Peter said, shaking his head at the whole situation.

"I'll meet you boys in the hangar," K said before she gave Erik's arm a little squeeze and darted off to get changed.


	12. White Run

The tracking data on Krissy's and Sying's phones stopped in Uruguay, and Kurt and Logan followed it to that point, landing the blackbird out of sight of the tall buildings at the center of which was the signal.

Kurt and Logan shared a look between them before Kurt pulled out both of his swords and simply nodded to his friend. The cell signal put them right in the center of what looked to be a broken down old warehouse, but neither of them trusted it in the least — it was simply too quiet.

By the time they got inside to find that the building was empty… they were downright wary.

"How is it that you're still so terribly easy to bait?" Viper's voice echoed from an unseen spot in the tall, dilapidated building.

Logan and Kurt shared a frown as Viper continued, and Logan closed his eyes to try and get a better idea of where she was.

"I thought it was only fair, after all. You took my little grandson … so I'll take yours." Her laugh echoed eerily. "And since you've been sure to turn him against me, I'll just have to sell that little Kree insect to the highest bidder. Your furry friend here and of course _you_ are just the icing on the cake. By the time the bidding war is over … I should have easily doubled what you cost me in Madripoor."

"You'll lose more than just money this time," Kurt said with his lips curled back in almost a snarl. "Show yourself and I'll run you through unless you release my daughter and Sying. You'll find us much harder to deal with than unsuspecting _children_."

She chuckled at that. "I no longer have either of them." Though on telling them that, she did step into view — high up and across the warehouse.

As soon as she appeared, Kurt teleported up to where she was with Logan in tow, both of them ready to tear into Viper — though when Kurt charged forward to meet her with both swords drawn, he pulled up short and teleported back on instinct when something electric arced only inches from his face.

Of course, Logan couldn't avoid it - a bad combination of no quick escape and metal bones that simply drew the current right to him. And since all of the catwalks they were standing on were metal as well … it was the simplest means in the world for Viper to incapacitate him. The arcing electricity hit him hard, and after a long moment, Logan was flat on the catwalk, smoking and unmoving.

"Oh, and I almost got two for one again," Viper said. "Are you still going to try to save him?"

Kurt bared his teeth in the direction of Viper's voice — since it was clear she wasn't on the catwalk itself. "I don't have to touch the ground to teleport to anyone who comes close to him," he spit out. "You won't get near him."

"And no one will approach until you're subdued," she agreed. "But you may try." She paused and considered him. "Of course … the jury is still out if he's worth more alive or dead. Thoughts?"

"He's worth more to you alive," Kurt pointed out. "You know and I know that anyone you try to sell him to won't be able to hold him — and then you have him to face once he's free again and face the prospect of an all-new payday if you succeed again. It's too much to resist; it always has been."

"You're no fun to play with," Viper said in an almost whining tone.

"I'm not interested in playing."

"That doesn't make me want to keep you around much," she told him.

Kurt smirked and shook his head. "And here I thought you said there was money to be made," he said. "Let's be honest with one another. You can't get to him while I'm here, but you certainly won't make any money off of my death."

"There is money to be made," she agreed. "But even though you're being a pain … I can make money off of _him _one way or another. And if he escapes his new masters … then I'll catch him again and continue the game."

Kurt narrowed his eyes. "Like I said, you need him alive," he said. "But while this has been quite the intellectual exercise, the fact still stands — _you won't get him_." He twirled his swords. "But you seem to be forgetting one thing — would you rather I run you through now or wait until my best friend's wife arrives to leave you even more disfigured than before? I have _some _artistic ability, of course, but nothing like hers."

That seemed to be the tipping point, though. "Shoot him. We'll sell his hide as a trophy."

* * *

Peter had the intel coming in from several different SHIELD groups pulled up on the screen of one of SHIELD's stealthiest jets, with Erik and K in the cockpit and in scary agreement, which Peter was convinced was really not a good thing.

They were very nearly to the facility in Irkutsk when Peter finally got a hit on SHIELD's intel — Australian forces were making some noise. Nothing specific, no mentions of weapons, but a task force had pinged SHIELD's radar on its way back from the US, and they really had no reason to be going that way, so chances were good — that was Krissy.

"Can you track that?" Erik asked

Peter nodded. "I've already got a couple agents — _good _ones — on it."

"You told Scott, right?" K asked.

"Yeah, sent him a message a second ago. And considering Logan and Kurt are in South America, I'm expecting the blowup, I know, I know."

"Who's on the Australian job?" Erik said, watching him. "So I know who's 'good'."

"Actually?" Peter smirked a bit. "Miles. He's not full-time, still at the LA school, but I trust my fellow spider."

"So if the boys aren't done in Australia by the time we deal with this, we're headed down under, right?" K said - clearly more to Erik than to Peter.

"It would seem so," Erik said simply.

She nodded in agreement and then set the autopilot for the last bit. "I've got weapons and a hood to put on. Can you boys manage for a few?"

"I suppose we'll endure," Erik said with a smirk.

"You'll be better when I get back," she said over her shoulder as she passed Peter.

Peter shook his head at her. "Crazy old people," he muttered her way.

"Just for that, I think you should just stay in the plane," K told him.

"Aw, c'mon, Grannie, I won't pee on the furniture," Peter shot back with a winning smile.

"Then I guess we're not scaring you near as much as you're whining about," K said as she pulled the hood over her head. "I'll try harder."

"That is very much not what I meant, and you know it."

"Say what you mean, AD Parker."

Peter threw up his hands, though since Erik was smirking as the jet set down, he was getting absolutely _no _help from either of them.

It didn't look like the people running the Russian facility had even noticed the three rescuers as K quietly slipped off ahead of the two men on the team, slipping seamlessly inside so she could look for the missing sparkling maple leaf.

The security was thick, but not nearly as thick as K would have thought for a weapons facility, but considering that they were trying to do whatever it was to Sying quietly … she should have realized it. At any rate — it was, as always with the Russians, more a matter of avoiding detection at all and slipping past cameras, and K knew just what to look for on her way in. She worked through the halls of the facility, ducking into one room or the next, scenting out all of the paths before she found one where Sying had crossed and nosed down the hall to follow it.

It took time, of course, but it wasn't too terribly long before she found the room — though Sying was nowhere in sight. There were soldiers. No cages — no cells. And there were scientists, of course, but no outward obvious proof that the kid was there at all.

She eased into the room and hid behind some equipment near the door before she hit her comm for Peter and Erik. "Something is wrong here."

"You mean _besides_ the creepy creeps using kids as weapons?" Peter replied.

"I mean his scent is here but there is no sign of anything happening, and no visible sign of him."

"Huh." Peter paused. "Oh, okay, um, Erik's coming to you apparently. See you in a second."

"Yeah, I can feel that, thanks," K told him.

It was only clearer to K the closer Erik got because she could feel the light pull of his magnetism as the few soldiers that did spot the two men were crushed in their own uniforms before they could sound the alarm and Erik calmly walked past to where K was hidden.

"Oh, I do love that kind of entrance," K said with a smirk before she darted out to join them. "I guess we just start looking then — the scent is centered here." She winked at Peter, then zipped off to start ahead of them.

And just like that, the soldiers and scientists in the room were dealt with before they could even raise the alarm, guns crushed in their hands, helmets caved in, necks snapped — it all happened faster than Peter could exactly keep track of. But in all the excitement, Peter had to agree: from where he was standing, there wasn't any sign of the junior X-Man they were supposed to be looking for.

K was rushing ahead, getting progressively angrier the further she got until, when she was crossing back toward Erik, she flat out stopped and took a step back at the hollow sound under her feet. With a frown, she looked down to find that she was standing on what appeared to be one-way glass over a sensory deprivation tank that Sying was occupying. She took a quick step back, staring down at the glass. She paced over it and around it for a moment before she let out a low growl and broke her promise to Scott — popping the claws in one hand through the glass and twisted her wrist to break it more fully.

"Sying?" she called out — though the growl was still easy to hear. But when he didn't move or respond, she simply went to hitting the glass with her heel to crack it open wider as Erik continued to destroy cameras, tech, and anyone stupid enough to still be wearing armor plates.

The sound of the destruction over his head just seemed to shake Sying up, though, and instead of curling back and away from her, once the glass had started to crack, Sying just seemed to… lose it. In a second, the glass shattered as he just hit it with everything he had, and K had just enough time to yell at the other two to _drop _before the biggest plasmoid Sying had made yet plowed into the facility, taking out soldiers and equipment alike.

And for as upset as Sying was, when K picked her head up again, she could see the moment he tried to calm down — but it ended up turning into something else entirely. He did the same sort of funny head tilt his dad would always do in these situations before bursting forward through the wreckage, knocking K back several feet _hard _before he ran past her to simply start plowing through soldiers like they were made of paper.

"We need to get out," K told the two men when she skidded across the room. "We'll get through to him later - you're not supposed to be hit."

"What happened?" Peter asked, looking past K to the vast destruction.

"I think he's in a white run," she told him. "His dad does it on purpose, but this … doesn't look like he meant to." She looked over her shoulder and then back to Erik. "Did you destroy their surveillance?"

"Naturally," Erik said. "And magnetized their computer files - anything they have is worthless, if young Sying even leaves anything to be salvaged," he added with a slight frown.

"Then I should be able to ditch the mask to stop him," she said with a nod. "And I'll deal with anyone that might still be sliming around."

When K caught up to Sying again, this time without the mask so that he'd be able to see it was her, it was hard to keep up with the speed he was going by just sight alone. One second, there would be equipment, and the next, it had been ripped out of the wall — soldiers were being plowed through … walls torn apart… At the rate he was going, he'd level the whole facility on his own.

It was clear that he wasn't going to stop without help, but she absolutely didn't want to hurt him - not after everything that the kid had been through. So instead, she looked around the facility that was slowly coming apart until she found a small group of living soldiers and rushed to stand in front of them, just waiting for Sying to come closer. The hope was that he'd at least recognize her, and with luck — stop.

He was still tearing through the place when he got closer, though it wasn't until he was nearly to her that he did pause, the recognition enough to break the intense concentration that was necessary for a white run — and then all at once, he looked very tired and simply lowered his hands.

"Come on," she said. "We have a ride out of here … I just ... " She gestured toward where the SHIELD jet was. "I'll be right with you. Have to finish up here." With that, she pulled the mask back over her head — just in case — and turned to deal with what little was left before she rushed to catch up to him and take him to Peter and Erik, keeping an arm around Sying when she could tell he was dragging his feet.

"Peter, can you make sure he has some sugar, please?" K said once they were in the jet.

"Oh, yeah, sure," Peter said quickly, going to one of the cabinets to get a few bars of chocolate to hand to Sying, who looked incredibly worn out, tired, and singed at the edges.

K took a seat next to Erik but didn't take the mask off until they were in the air and well away from the site. "You have the next coordinates, right?"

He nodded. "Already set and headed there now," he explained. "Mister Morales has the exact location for us."

"Then this shouldn't be a long trip, should it?" K asked.

Erik shook his head lightly and then glanced back at the two others in the jet. "I know we promised Cyclops that we would not draw undue attention…"

"That was before we knew that Sying was going to dive into a white run," K said. "Didn't know he could even do that."

"I'm not entirely familiar with it myself," Erik admitted.

"It's a Noh thing," K replied. "I kind of understand it to be concentrated destruction - as you can see. But he'd probably explain it a lot more elegantly."

"In either case, that makes our next stop much simpler," Erik said.

"Well, he'll probably be worn out. I don't think SHIELD stocks much sugar … energy bars, sure…."

"I meant it would be simpler for you and I," Erik clarified. "There is no reason for hiding now."

"Ah, well yes," she said. "But I'm going to stick to my promise, at least until the surveillance is destroyed. I will not have that man giving me side eye for seeing me in surveillance. It's never happened before if I didn't allow it, and it won't now."

Erik tipped his head her way for a moment before he simply smirked and turned his attention back to the jet. "Don't concern yourself with it."

"Don't go taking all the fun now," she warned with a little laugh. "I get enough of that with my regular team."

"I can imagine as much, seeing what young Sying just did," Erik smirked.

"You know damn well I'm talking about Logan and Kurt," K said, smiling his way. "Total pigs when it comes to letting anyone else play."

Erik chuckled and shook his head. "Had we met decades ago…"

"This run wouldn't be necessary," she finished airily.

"Certainly not." Erik shook his head, losing a bit of his smirk. "This is exactly what I warned against. Repeatedly."

"It is a burden to be right sometimes," she said in that same tone.

"Especially when to be proven wrong would be so much better," Erik said, shaking his head.

She let out a sigh and leaned back in her seat. "Then let's hope they still have the drive to prove you wrong long-term."

He leaned back and matched her body language. "It comes in tides, my dear. I had high hopes after that business with the tagging, and now, save for calls for extermination outright — we are _precisely _where we were before."

She tipped her head to watch him for a moment. "Maybe. Maybe not. It's entirely possible that what's going on now might just prove Scott's point for him. That if we were of a mind to do what they're afraid of … it would be done."

Magneto let out a little chuckle. "It has _always_ been the case that we could be done with this nonsense if we were of a mind to do so," he said.

"And lucky you is hunting with the one that can keep a decent lid on the temper," she said.

"To be honest, my dear, I wouldn't mind in the least if you didn't."

K had to grin at him for that. "Well, sure. You say that _now_."

"After Krissy is out of danger, of course," he said easily.

"Of course."

"Where is Krissy, anyway?" Sying asked from behind them, with his knees tucked up to his chin and a blanket around his shoulders.

"Australia," Peter answered.

"You mean you didn't get her out yet?" Sying asked, his exhaustion suddenly dropping quickly into worry.

"We were on our way for you, angry little maple sparkles." K turned fully to smile at him. "How are you feeling? Up for a chance to save the pirate princess?"

Sying nodded quickly. "I just figured if it was just the three of you… what, are the rest of the X-Men fighting Viper?"

K sat up a lot straighter and turned fully in her chair, even taking a knee in the aisle to square up with him. "What are you talking about with Viper?"

"She's the one who set the dampener in my usual running path," Sying explained. "She made the - the _sale_ for me and Krissy," he added with a serious glare.

There was a low, rumbling growl that filled the jet, rattling them before the sound hit them properly, and K simply reached for her comm to notify Scott. "Cyclops, I'm gonna kill someone. I'm not asking. Sying is safe. We're headed to Oz, and if that pain in my ass isn't there, I'm going to hunt her down."

"What happened?"

"Sying is fine - but he said it was Viper that set this whole mess up."

There was a long silence before Scott answered. "And since neither of the kids was in Uruguay…"

"I'm sorry, what?" K said, sounding totally flat.

"That's where the phones ended up," Scott explained. "And we haven't heard from Logan or Kurt yet - but I'll call the Avengers, get another team involved."

It was K's turn to pause as she weighed it out. "Alright. Let me know if she goes into SHIELD custody before I can find her."

"I'll keep you updated. Call me after you get done in Australia, and I'll give you a rundown regardless." He paused. "How's Sying?"

"Recharging," she replied. "Would you like to talk to him?"

"How much of the rescue was he aware of?" Scott asked. "We've dealt with this before — how bad was it?"

"He was in a white run nearly from the time he got out of the sensory deprivation chamber. So you tell me."

Scott let out a breath that could be heard even over the comms. "Alright. I'll let both of his parents know. How much damage control do I need to run in the meantime?"

K turned to look between Erik and Sying. "I'll have the assistant director get back to you. There were no surveillance issues."

Sying looked up at K with a small frown. "I'm not apologizing for leveling the place."

"No one is, sugar plum," K replied.

"Keep me updated," Scott said at last. "And let me know when you find Krissy."

"I'll let you know when we're on board and she's safely secure."

Once the comm was off, Sying leaned forward a bit. "I don't think I can do that again, but I want to come."

"I don't want you to try to do that again," K told him. "But if you think you're up to it, you can come with us to get Krissy out. Erik will make you a nice, clear path in and out."

"Alright. I'll get her out," Sying agreed.

"Do you want some water?" K asked Erik, careful to keep half an eye on him - considering that this was all much more than he was used to doing on a regular basis. "I don't have tea."

Erik let out a breath of a laugh. "I suppose if there's no Earl Gray, water will do."

K turned to give Peter an expectant look, one eyebrow raised in a clear order to take care of it. And Peter, for his part, just shook his head and got some energy bars and water for all four of them.


	13. Rescue Operations

When the call came in from Scott that Logan and Kurt had run into trouble in Uruguay - and that the trouble was _Viper_ \- Jess was the first to say she was ready to go with Steve. And, of course, Bobbi was quick to offer help too, in case there was an issue with poisons - as there almost always was with Viper.

They were almost to the Quinjet when Leslie Ann caught them headed out and volunteered as well. And honestly, Steve almost said no - she and Dani were the youngest Avengers, and Viper was _horrible _to deal with. But when Leslie Ann pointed out that the area was practically a playground for her powers, considering what he knew she could do when she really let loose, he relented.

When they finally arrived at the place that Viper had cornered Logan and Kurt, the group was frustrated to find that not only had she gotten both of them cornered, but they were, by that time, entirely subdued, though Kurt had been shot and collared. Both of them were restrained, and neither was conscious as her men loaded the tied and caged X-men out of the building.

The group of Avengers didn't hesitate to burst into action, with Steve leading the charge straight toward the transport, though before he could get there, the entire ground erupted underneath them, tree roots and grass and everything green simply twisting through the transport to tear it to pieces and to pull Kurt and Logan away from the Hydra soldiers. Leslie Ann was moving the two of them at a much gentler pace than she was _throwing _the soldiers around. It was a lot like watching Leslie Ann's tryouts for the Avengers - the whole jungle seemed to come alive for her, and all in defense of Kurt and Logan. The Avengers themselves were fighting Hydra, but anyone that came toward the unconscious X-Men found themselves strung up or otherwise pinned by the vegetation all around them as the building started to come apart at the seams.

"I'm so. Tired. Of people doing this crap," Leslie Ann said when Steve looked back at her, looking flat out pissed off about it.

"We can talk about it later," Steve said. "Right now? Let's deal with what we came here to do."

"Oh, I can do that and be mad at the same time," she promised, proving her point by waving a hand as the building that Hydra was in came down around them when vines and trees tore out its base, forcing the remaining soldiers to run out of it - Viper included. And the rest of the Avengers rushed in to take advantage of that.

In a moment of inspiration, Bobbi managed to wrestle the darts at Viper's side away from her and quickly jammed them into her leg, knowing full well that Viper wasn't going to have too much trouble - but banking on her simply not being able to process quite that much toxin in one fell swoop. For just a moment, Viper looked furious, but the poison overload was too much for even her, and her eyes rolled back as Bobbi very quickly got her restrained, not trusting her to _stay _out for the whole trip.

"I've got her," Jess told Bobbi as they headed for the Quinjet. "The boys need medical attention."

"She's going to make it to trial," Steve told her.

Jess held his gaze for a moment before she very slowly nodded. "Fine," she said, though that didn't mean there wasn't obvious purple bruising already forming on Viper's arm where Jess was holding her.

"I'll call Cyclops," Steve set. "Let him know we have them. Bobbi, do I need to ask them to get some of Nightcrawlers demons here to fast track them? That gunshot wound looks bad."

"He's stable for now, but faster would be better," Bobbi said as she worked on his bloodwork - the bleeding already stopped off for the time being. "He needs surgery to remove the round."

Steve simply nodded and went to his phone to call up Scott. "I'll tell them fast is better," he promised.

* * *

The mission into the building in Australia was a lot more complex, since this particular faction of their government had taken over on Donald Pierce's old Reavers complex and put it to good use. The security was high - even that far in the middle of nowhere - but K took the open space as a challenge as she worked her way up to the building, leaving the boys behind for the time being.

She'd gotten inside and had left her comm on, not that any sounds made it to the men in the jet, unless it was guards talking to each other. K found a grate and worked her way up to it, scaling a half dead tree and leaping over to the thing to get inside the building … but after that, it wasn't too terribly long before Peter and Erik clearly heard something troubling.

"I found her," K said softly. "I won't be long." There was a rush of sound, a muted bang, and then a pop as the comm totally fried.

Erik and Peter shared a glance for only a second before Erik simply started to move - with both of the younger men with him following close behind. Unlike K, though, Erik was not in the mood to sneak into the facility. He knew where Krissy was based on where he could sense the adamantium in K, so he didn't need to be choosy about the rest of his destruction. Instead, he simply started to float forward, one hand outstretched, as the facility tore itself apart from the inside in front of him, bullets stopping two feet out from him and guns and helmets alike crushing into little balls, no matter who they were attached to.

Sying and Peter were totally wide-eyed trailing behind Erik as he pushed his way forward until they reached the holding facilities where K had found Krissy. The little purple elfling was still trussed and collared as she'd been when Hydra handed her over, and the soldiers in the facility had apparently just finished similarly restraining K by the time the alarm sounded.

Erik took one look at the situation - K unconscious, Krissy terrified, and the soldiers roughly handling K - and simply let out a scoffing noise before K shot out of the soldiers' grasp toward him until she was safely behind him. By the time she was settled down beside Sying, the collar and cuffs were gone, too - and in an instant, the bars were gone from in front of Krissy's cell, holding their electrical charge for just a moment as they sparked before Erik slammed them into the soldiers, impaling them to the wall. Then, Krissy too took a short flight behind him, and the cuffs and collar unraveled.

As soon as she was free, Krissy simply attached herself to Sying, wrapped around him in a hug and with her face in his shoulder.

"Peter, Sying, if you could get them to safety," Erik said simply without bothering to look back to see if the other two were going to follow his instructions - already moving forward to start tearing the facility to its bare bones.

"I told you not to take all the fun," K muttered, pushing Peter away when he

tried to get her upright. "You go with the kids."

"We won't be long," Erik agreed as the facility continued to unravel around him.

Sying didn't need the extra prompting to pick Krissy up and run her back to the jet, though Peter frowned after the two older members of the team before he finally let out a sigh and shook his head. At this point, there was really no point in trying to stop them anyway.

"You got a head start," K told Erik as she caught up and bristled. "They zapped me."

"Yes, well, they had no business thinking they could keep either of you," Erik said simply.

"What …. No," she said, shaking her head as she started to growl again. "Do you mind if I go ahead? They wanted claws, after all."

"I'll catch up," Erik said, waving a hand. "I have some records and equipment that shall never be used against mutants again." With that, he headed off in a different direction to K, the trail of destruction that both of them were leaving in their wakes vastly different but incredibly effective all the same.

When the facility had been reduced more or less to rubble and the soldiers in it had all been dealt with, however, K found her way back to Erik, who was now leaning against one of the few still-standing walls with one hand holding himself up, looking more worn than she had seen him in some time.

"Let's get you back to the jet," she said, not even warning him further before she slipped under his arm and put her arm around his back.

When the two of them got back to the jet, K was careful to make sure he was comfortably seated behind the pilot's chair as she took over, and as soon as they were airborne, she turned to Peter. "Did you call Scott yet?"

He nodded. "The Avengers caught up to Kurt and Logan, got them out of Viper's clutches - and Cap's sending Viper up to the helicarrier, so that's all squared away, more or less," he said, leaving out the part about Kurt needing surgery while Krissy was still in the jet and curled into Sying - with both of the teenagers not about to let go of each other for how much they'd been worried since they were separated.

"Excellent," K said with a hard edge to her voice. "She called ahead to have the Australians electrify the cells. She knew I was coming."

Sying looked up over the top of Krissy's head and then shook his head with a frustrated sigh. "So this was a bait situation for you and Grampa Wolvie," he surmised.

"No," K said. "She'd already caught him."

"Is he okay?"

"Probably," K said. "Doesn't matter, though. Either way, she'll pay for it."

Sying nodded at that and rested his chin on top of Krissy's head, and for the rest of the trip out, the jet was fairly quiet. Erik was clearly worn down, both Sying and Krissy were exhausted and upset - and Peter was just trying to keep an eye on all three of them, more than a little concerned about how haggard Erik in particular looked after that display.

When they did get back to Westchester, they were immediately greeted by both of Sying's parents as well as an incredibly worried-looking Kate - though Kurt was still with Hank. And while Sying was swarmed by Noh and Jubilee, Krissy looked up at Kate after she hugged her mother. "Where's Papa?"

"He's with Hank right now," Kate said. "He's alright - he's just out right now." She pressed a kiss to Krissy's forehead. "We can go see him and get you checked out as well."

Krissy nodded and let Kate lead her toward Hank's lab - though they didn't get all the way there before they'd run into Chance, who looked _completely _relieved to see Krissy and rushed over in two long strides to pull her into the most amazing kiss he'd ever given her.

When they broke apart, Krissy's eyebrows were high on her head, but she couldn't stop smiling because, well, it had been _very _nice. "You were worried about me, weren't you?" she had to tease him.

"Uh, yeah, couldn't you tell?" he asked before he kissed her again, not really caring that Kate was watching with a small smirk nearby.

* * *

K let the jet clear out before she made a point to rest her hand on Erik's arm. "You went overboard."

Erik let out a tired breath and shook his head. "No, it was precisely what they deserved."

"Erik," she said in an almost down tone. "I didn't say they didn't deserve it. I said you went overboard. With yourself." She waved one hand almost as if she was swatting at a fly. "I don't care about them. They were asking for it."

"I won't apologize to you, K," he said.

"You're misunderstanding me then," she said. "I'm not looking for an apology. I want to be sure that you're alright. For _May_."

Erik finally frowned at that and met her gaze. "Yes, well," he said, sounding almost embarrassed.

"How about a quick run through Hank's place before we get you home? She's going to ask for it anyhow if she sees you like this." K stood and offered Erik her shoulder to lean on.

Erik let his shoulders slump for a moment but still let K help him to stand. "Even a year ago... "

"What?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I could have gone through five such places without breaking a stride," he said, standing up a bit straighter as a matter of pride.

She nodded at that. "At least that many." K let him set the pace on the way to Hank's lab, and once he was comfortably being seen to, she finally headed over to check on Hank's notes to see exactly what kind of shape Logan was in while the furry blue doctor was preoccupied.

While K was sitting beside Logan, Scott dropped into the seat next to her. "Both of the kids are alright," he told her quietly. "Hank checked them over. Nothing more than bumps and bruises from being handled - at least physically."

"Good," K said, nodding lightly. "I need to have some words with that snake."

"K, she's in SHIELD custody, and she's going to trial," Scott said.

"I know," she said, turning his way and nodding her head.

He frowned at her and shook his head. "At least stay here until Logan wakes up - he does better with you around."

"That was the plan," she agreed. "I need to know what she did to him, since I know what she did to everyone else."

"Kurt says the floor was electrified, some kind of tesla coil," Scott said. "Same approach, as I understand it, you experienced."

"She warned the Aussies I was coming - I got the same treatment," she agreed.

"And now neither Russia nor Australia has anything left to stand on - at least in those specific facilities," Scott said. He paused. "I appreciate you going in with a mask, K. We don't need this to come back to bite us when so many of our junior _and _senior squad have just been hit."

"I'll keep the mask, and I'll keep the blacked out suit for occasions like this," K replied before she spared him a glance. "Doesn't mean you'll hear about all of them, though."

He frowned deeper. "K, I can't have your back if I don't know what's going on."

"There is a very real threat to my little family," she said, not really looking at him until the very end of that statement. "I'm not going to let anyone get away with it."

"I'm not saying you should - I'm just saying _let me help_," Scott said.

"And you can't help and keep your distance from what's happening," she pointed out. "I'm going to start with a word with Viper. If she's gone, there will be a power vacuum in Madripoor. You'll want to know who's been nipping at her heels before they start taking pot shots."

"I'm not arguing that, either," Scott said.

"So don't get too far ahead of me on the argument. The only thing you have in front of you - or that I have - is her."

"I just want to make sure this doesn't end up the way it did when Logan had a 'word' with the Purple Man," Scott said. "I'm not trying to restart X-Force or make a habit of crossing those lines, especially not now when we're trying to teach our kids to be better than us."

She turned her head to meet his gaze properly. "He was too nice to that creep."

"K - you're not listening to me," Scott said.

"I am; I'm just not telling you want you want to hear."

Scott let out a breath of frustration. "I'm _trying _to tell you that I can help."

"Great. You can fly me up to the helicarrier," K said. "Getting up there on my own is a bitch."

"Fine. I wanted a word with Peter anyway."

"Did they get any satellite footage?" K asked with an interested expression. "It's my understanding that there might have been a stray magnetic field interfering with a few places today."

"You know damn well they didn't get anything," Scott said, though he couldn't help but smirk all the same.

"Then what are you worried about? Mask. No badge. No claws. No witnesses."

Scott rolled his eyes as he got to his feet. "I'll see you in the hangar, K."

K watched Scott leave and kept her gaze on the door after it closed. "You … are terrible at playing possum," she said to Logan before she turned to give him a kiss. "Are you going to watch over Kurt while I'm gone?"

"No. Kate has that," Logan replied, smirking at how frustrated Scott had been. He pulled her over for another kiss before his irritation at the whole affair got the better of him. "Have fun." K smirked and squeezed his hand before she got up to go, waving Erik's way as she headed out of the lab.


	14. Empty Cell

After leaving the medbay, K went directly down to the hangar, where Scott and Peter were quietly chatting together. "If you boys are doing this without me, I'll find my own ride."

"No, we were just about done anyway," Peter said, waving K over. "I'm headed to Aunt May's anyway, so I'll take the SHIELD jet. You two have fun."

"Is Erik spending the night here, then?" K asked with a frown. "I hadn't heard what Hank said either way."

"He said it would be a good idea," Peter admitted, honestly looking worried about it. Even if there was always a part of him that struggled to reconcile Magneto with the man married to his aunt, he'd come to consider _Erik _part of his family — and he genuinely did love him.

"He needed me to get him back to the jet," she told them.

Both Peter and Scott frowned at that. "I didn't know that," Scott said.

"Not like i really had time to fill anyone in yet," K said. "And I'm not going to spill all that kind of thing when he's got a whole med lab full of people listening in. The man deserves his dignity."

"No, I appreciate that," Peter said. "I just… don't think I'll tell Aunt May that part."

"I'm sure she doesn't really want details anyhow," K agreed.

Peter nodded, still frowning, before he waved to K and Scott and headed off, and Scott gestured to the jet with one hand. "Still need a lift?"

"Sure. I guess if I have to do this your way, I'll go in openly."

"I'm sure if you really have to, you can still leave Fury a message."

"Only if I need to," she agreed. "But if it comes to that, you better just keep out of my way."

Scott spared her a sideways glance and then nodded, simply getting them up to the helicarrier in relative silence after the rush of receiving the missing kids and rescuers.

When they got up to the helicarrier, it was Phil Coulson who greeted them, smiling K's way for a moment before he looked to Scott. "I'm glad to hear you got the kids back alright."

Scott nodded. "Yes. And I'd really like to have a word with you or whoever's been in charge of _monitoring _the trafficking rings — because clearly, they're not doing enough."

Coulson frowned but nodded. "Yeah, we dropped the ball in Nebraska, I admit it."

"And it's not going to happen again," Scott said in a tone that left absolutely no room for questions.

K made her way over to Coulson and took his arm before she leaned up to kiss his cheek. "You boys go talk. I need to have a word with someone myself."

Coulson shook his head her way. "Yes, I'm sure Director Fury will appreciate whatever you carve into his desk next."

"I wasn't planning to talk to him tonight ... unless things go the wrong way, but … I might entertain a request. Stick figure?" K asked.

He smirked a little wider. "One-eyed?"

"With three teeth and a peg leg under the trenchcoat. Yes."

Coulson and Scott both shook their heads K's way before they headed off, leaving K to head down to where Viper was being held — with Coulson's credentials.

The little brunette didn't even try to _use _them — it was just a matter of taking them, really. The guards between her and the high security cell didn't stand in her way for long once they heard the growl and, in only one case, got a fist full of claws under their nose. Before she went into the high tech cells for supervillains, she looked through the small area where the captives' belongings were stored — not to be touched until trial, of course.

She knew that the darts would be gone — and empty, since Bobbi used them on her in an act of poetic justice — and she knew that nothing inherently dangerous would be there, though she paused when she saw an odd piece of copper jewelry dangling on a chain. She narrowed her eyes and frowned when she saw it was a somewhat misshapen bullet. The expansion rate was lousy, and the troughs along the sides of it showed that it had been inside of someone or something. She lifted it closer and closed her eyes, trying to catch a scent, and when she caught the faint trace scent embedded in the gouges along the side, her hand clenched into a fist around the chain.

Viper had made a _trophy _out of the bullet she'd dug out of Gerry without anesthetic as a punishment for his escape attempt.

She turned on her toes and sprang forward a step as she told the guards to get out of her way. They'd barely gotten the energy barrier back far enough for K to slip in before she lunged forward and pinned Viper to the wall by the throat to start her string of hissed out questions.

It went on until Viper seemed unable to answer further — likely because K was cracking her one every time she even halfway lied. And when it was clear that the Hydra head had no more lies to tell and no real strength to push back, K held her hand up between them and let the copper bullet on the chain fall between them so that it was hanging at eye level. "Why are you _wearing _this?"

"Oh, it's not for me," Viper said, even laughing quietly. "I'm simply holding onto it for him until he comes back to his senses."

K's eyebrow raised minutely. "That's going to be hard to do."

"Yes, he _does _have his father's stubbornness, but I think he'll come around with the right convincing."

"No," K said, matching Viper's earlier expression. "I've been trying to take up metal manipulation. I'm not very good, but I think my friend will tell you I have promise." She arranged the necklace so that the bullet was resting between two of her fingers and hauled off to crack Viper just over the bridge of her nose. The first crack echoed the room, and she took a moment to shake the chain off of her hand before she laid into her two more times until she was sure that the thing was embedded well.

"_K. That's enough,_" said Scott's voice over the cell's speaker.

K let out a sigh and let her shoulders roll back dramatically before she had to just crack her once more — though just low enough to break Viper's jaw and knock her out. "I can't believe you're babysitting me."

"_I'm sitting with someone who wants his wallet back, K; I don't know what to tell you."_

"It's a game," she said. "He knows he'll get it back." She stepped out of the cell and leaned against the wall as she let the agent in the cell block that had been standing guard search her for anything Viper might have tried to slip her. But as the woman was doing her job, K was looking down the hall of the cell block with a curious expression on her face. "How many female prisoners do you have in this boat?"

"About a dozen. Two on this block, why?"

"_Two_ on this block?" K asked, frowning before she walked further down the hall, looking for the other occupant. "Who's the second one?"

"Well, which name do you want? Nathaniel Essex or Jana LeBeau?"

K spun to look at the guard. "Where?"

The guard furrowed her brow, obviously confused as she pointed to the cell right beside K. "Right there."

K turned her head and took a step toward the cell, carefully scenting the air and growing more concerned — since there was no scent. At all. And that wasn't something that Essex could have managed with the dampeners up. "Oh, crap," she breathed out before she looked up to where the cameras were. "Is Fury home?"

The guard tipped her head to the side as she studied K. "He should be. What's wrong?"

K shook her head and didn't bother to explain as she headed out, though she didn't turn down the path that would take her to Coulson and Scott. After a few quick turns — and an obviously concerned presence over the comms — K simply disappeared from camera as she made her way to Fury's office.

And when K simply appeared behind his desk through the hidden entrance only to walk past him around the desk and then drop into the seat across from him, she looked absolutely off her game. "Where the hell is Essex?"

"What are you talking about now?" Fury snapped, clearly irritated by her entrance.

"Essex. Jana. Whichever method you talk about the creep. She's not in the cell block, so where is she?" K said as she leaned forward. "Or do I need to carve it into your desk for you to pay attention?"

Fury narrowed his eye at her for a second before he went to his comm to order the surveillance for that cell block and pulled it up himself on one of the many screens in his office. "If she's not here, we can track where she left."

"That isn't very helpful when the scent in the cell is so old and stale," K told him.

"It's a place to start. We'll get teams on alert to look for her," Fury shot back.

"You really are getting crabby in your old age," she said with her nose crunched up. "And apparently losing your touch. If you couldn't hear me walking up behind you …"

"Is there anything else you wanted?" he asked with a glare.

"Would it be out of the realm of possibility to ask to be there when Viper is transferred?" K asked. "For backup."

"You gonna put another bullet in her bare-handed?"

She leaned forward. "Admit it. You liked that part."

He leaned forward to match her. "Wasn't saying it was a disqualifier."

"I'd rather put a claw in her, but if a bullet's more your style …" She shrugged lightly. "I wouldn't turn down the chance."

Fury just smirked. "I'll consider it."

"Thanks, Director," she said before she got up and headed for the door. When she stepped out, the guard outside looked entirely set back as she gave him a once over and started down the hall.

When she caught up with Scott, he was already headed toward the jet and on his cell phone. "...and make sure Cody's wearing a tracer, just in case," he said, glancing up when he saw K. "Yeah. Alright. I'll see you soon, Annie."

"Did you get the message, then?" K asked.

Scott gave her a bit of a look. "No, I always tell my son to wear tracers."

"You know what, I'm just going to take that as a 'thank you,' since if I hadn't come here to ask a few questions, you wouldn't know."

Scott glared her way for a second longer before he let out a breath. "Thank you, K. I've already told Annie to let Logan know too. Wouldn't put it past him to come after James again either."

"From what the kids said, he wanted to keep them. That's probably not going to change," she replied before she had to slow her pace on seeing Coulson standing near the door to the deck. She pulled out his credentials and pressed them into his hand before he squeezed his arm. "Next time."

"Take care of yourself," Coulson said with a little smile.

* * *

When Annie got the call from Scott that Sinister had managed to get out of SHIELD custody somehow, she didn't even need the stressed-sounding instructions that Scott was giving on the other side; she was already rushing to make sure she knew where all four of their children were.

The girls were inside playing chess against each other, and Chance hadn't left Krissy's side since she got home, but it wasn't until Annie found Cody outside playing with the two youngest Wagners — helping Kari take care of her brothers for her parents — that she even thought about breathing.

It must have shown on her face, too, because even little Kade didn't argue the point and came inside when she asked, a little wide-eyed. "Are you okay, Miss Annie?"

"I'm alright," she promised Kade, though he wouldn't go with Kari until he kissed her cheek and gave her a solid hug — and of course, when Kaleb saw that there were kisses to be given out, he jumped right in to snuggle Annie too.

Annie waited until the boys had gone off with their sister before she turned to Cody and couldn't help but push back his hair from his face and then pull him into a hug.

"Mom?"

She let out a sigh. "Cody, I need you to keep your phone and your comm on you everywhere," she told him gently. "Even in the house, even if everything seems just fine."

"What's going on?" he asked with a little frown.

Annie paused for a moment. She wasn't quite sure what to _call _Sinister when he was inside sweet Jana. "Your father went up to the SHIELD helicarrier with K, and while they were there, they discovered that Sinister is no longer in the cell they set aside for him."

Cody's eyebrows shot up, and his mouth was slightly parted as he watched his mom. "Well, where is he? Is Dad okay?"

"He's fine; he's on his way home." She shook her head. "But that's why I need you to stay close. And keep a tracer on you."

"Mom—"

"I'm not going to argue this with you, Cody," she said. "That's what your father asked you to do." She paused and took a deep breath. "And… for me… I'm going to ask K about getting you one of those Stark guns."

"Really?"

"Cody, I'm not taking any chances with that man, and if you can't use your powers against him for any reason, you're _not _going to be unarmed if I can help it."

Cody nodded and then stepped forward to wrap Annie in a hug. "Thanks, Mom."

* * *

There was so much going on since Krissy and Sying had been rescued and since K had found out that Sinister was loose again, and Gerry didn't want Krissy and Sying to get lost in the shuffle, especially when he knew how hard it could be to recover from anything having to do with Viper.

Both of them were spending a lot of time with their families or with their significant others, and Gerry didn't blame them for that. But he did manage to catch them both when they were in the hallway, simply talking to each other. It was a rare enough opportunity that Gerry knew he'd lose it if he didn't jump on it — so he did.

"Hey, mind if I borrow you two for a hot minute?" he asked, stepping in front of them with an easygoing smile that didn't quite reach his eyes when he still had his mind on the subject matter.

Krissy and Sying both glanced at each other and shrugged, following Gerry into one of the classrooms that wasn't currently being used.

Before either of them could ask him what was wrong, though, he blurted out, "I'm sorry," letting his smile drop entirely. "I know it was Viper, and I know it was retaliation, and I'm sorry."

"_So _not your fault," Krissy cut him off quickly.

"Except … I kinda feel like it is?" Gerry said. "She wasn't bothering the teams when I was with her - not really. And I know I really ticked her off - so she was looking for revenge … and that ended up being _you _guys. And it sucks. And I'm sorry."

"Yeah, but the alternative is to not tick her off by letting her keep you, and that's not okay either," Krissy pointed out.

Gerry shrugged at that, still obviously fighting with himself on all that he'd seen and done with Viper. "Are you going to let me apologize or not? Because I kinda need to? And I want to."

Krissy hesitated, but Sying didn't - and pulled Gerry into a tight hug. "Yeah," he said quietly, "I get it."

Gerry hugged Sying back… and then hugged him tighter, quietly crying until Krissy teleported into them both and joined the hug, not about to let go until they'd _all _gotten it out of their systems.

* * *

With Scott and Annie in panic mode, and Kurt and Kate staying in the med bay for the night, K and Logan volunteered to take the Wagner kids with them for the night. The kids were tired — or most of them were — and once they had a movie going in the background in Elin's room, the girls seemed to settle out quickly. Of course, the big girls got the room to themselves, while the little girls and Kade snuggled up together, leaving Kaleb to learn a few tricks from James while everyone fell asleep.

"So," Elin said quietly as the two girls snuggled up on her bed with a bowl of popcorn between them. "I'm a little confused. We have just about every country in the world after us — and we have to deal with Mr. Sinister too? Are you here for comfort or protective detail?"

Krissy shrugged Elin's way. "Yes?"

"Well … seeing as you were the one to get busted out of evil Australia, shouldn't you be like … freaking out or stressed or something?"

"Also yes?" Krissy frowned and rested her head on Elin's shoulder. "I don't know, Ellie, I feel like … I don't _know _anything right now."

"Well … what's fuzzy? Maybe I can help. Or at least joke around horribly with you."

Krissy smirked a bit and shook her head. "I mean, I _know _being in Australia… all of it… that was terrifying. But I ... I got a good hug from Sying and ... and Chance has been looking out for me and ... I don't know. I feel safer here at home and I just… I'm just tired, Ellie."

"Well, you should," Elin said with a nod. "All these boys throwing themselves at your feet. That has to help a little bit."

"Um."

"Oh, come on," Elin said. "Don't tell me you haven't noticed."

"I… have." Krissy shifted the way she was sitting.

"Well … isn't that supposed to be a boost?" Elin asked.

"You'd think it would be," Krissy said, just snuggling into her best friend a little more. "I don't know, Ellie. Maybe it's just that I was … I mean, I _saw _Sying get dragged off, so I was really worried about him … maybe that's it," she decided, nodding to herself.

Elin paused and thought about it for a moment. "Wait. Maybe that's what?"

Krissy bit her lip. "You're going to think I'm a horrible girlfriend. And I _am_."

"You so aren't," Elin said, shaking her head already.

"But all I could think when I saw Sying with the rescue party was that I ... I…" Krissy bit her lip. "I almost wanted to kiss him." She glanced up at Elin.

Elin let out a breath and thought it over. "You're not married, Krissy. It's okay to look. I'm not telling you it's okay to _do_ anything if you want to keep dating Chance … but you can think about it anyhow."

Krissy frowned and shifted a bit more. "I do want to keep dating Chance," she said quietly. "He… he's been so nice and he was so worried and …."

"Then forget about kissing the other one," Elin said with a shrug.

"Yeah." Krissy let out a sigh. "I'm just glad Sying's okay. He scared me when Hydra grabbed us; he was freaking out so bad."

Elin turned her way and raised one eyebrow. "Are you going to think about kissing me the next time I get in trouble? Should I make sure I have gloss on?"

Krissy looked up quickly and shook her head. "No, you're my bestie, not my girlfriend."

"I'm just saying. Sying isn't any different, really — just that he's a boy."

"So it was just that I was worried about him," Krissy said, sounding relieved with the explanation

Elin nodded. "I think so. You've never been interested in him before — and people do stupid things in rescues … not that I've ever been _kissed._"

"Yeah, considering some of the rescues you've been in, I'm really glad for that," Krissy tried to tease.

"You don't have anything to worry about," Elin told her. "I'd probably crack him one if he tried it."

Krissy smiled at Elin. "Yeah, I wouldn't have blamed Penny if she hit me if I'd _actually _kissed Sying," she agreed.

"She wouldn't, though. She's not like that."

"No, she's sweet and exactly perfect for Sying," Krissy agreed. "And I'm glad he has her, because you know… I think having someone to talk to was helping him."

"Mom said he did really well, considering," Elin said. "He went into a white run."

"Yeah, that's what he said on the jet," Krissy said. "He didn't mean to; he was just… focused."

"He'll figure out how to now," Elin decided. "Probably be running things before we're out of school."

"He _did _say he wanted to be done with school by … well. Next semester."

"He'll need to get Dad and Scott to sign off on it," Elin said. "And considering they were telling him he needed to be patient …"

"Well, combat class and stuff like that… tactics and human-mutant relations… I kinda think people should take that even after graduation," Krissy said. "I mean, look at all the crazy that's happening now."

"Sounds like you're jockeying to take over Scott's position in that class."

Krissy laughed. "No way," she said quickly. "I just meant ... I mean …" She shrugged. "I think our favorite half-Kree boy is going to be in _some _classes for a while. That's what I meant."

"Uh huh. Sure ... " Elin muttered.

"Just… shut up and eat some popcorn with me."

"Only if you promise to keep your lips to yourself."

"I promise, I'm only kissing Chance until we either break up or—"

"You become a Summers … and take over on human-mutant relations in an entirely different way."

"Yeah. Lesson One: Don't _kidnap and sell people_."

"Lesson Two: Lead by example and kiss the crap out of the human following you around like a lost puppy."

At that, Krissy burst into a laugh. "Hey, no, that's _advanced _human-mutant relations."

"No, advanced is what nonsense you get into once you get _past _kissing," Elin teased before she shoved Krissy lightly.

"Oh my gosh, Ellie. We're not… _no_."

"Not yet, maybe," she laughed. "Just a matter of time the way you two are going, though."

Krissy blushed brilliantly and shook her head. "You're — you're going to get me in trouble."

"Not me," she replied, shaking her head. "Wrong equipment."

"You're horrible sometimes; you know that?"

Elin snickered at her. "You're the one thinking about it … all bright purple …"

"You _started it_!"

"Yeah, but now you're picturing it."

Krissy shook her head and shoved Elin. "Oh you — you — you're horrible!"

"Only because I'm right," she laughed. "You only say I'm horrible when I'm right." She sat up straight and turned to face Krissy with both eyebrows high. "Does Chance know?"

"About _what_?" Krissy asked, blushing furiously.

"About your … _thought _… process." Elin was grinning widely.

"_No."_

"So you haven't told him you want to go all … demonic on him yet?" She was giggling hard by that point.

"_Stop it!_" Krissy said, shaking her head. "You're horrible!"

"And … still right!"

"I _don't _want to — I'm not — _Ellie!_"

Elin was laughing outright, almost to the point of belly laughs as she slid down to her side and pulled a pillow over. "You just make it so easy."

"You — you're just — why do you _do _this to me?" Krissy huffed.

"Like you haven't started up on me?" Elin challenged. "You live for this kind of thing when you're the one in control of it."

"That's not—" Krissy let out a frustrated sound and threw her hands up in the air. "Fine! What about you then, huh?"

"Nothing special to report," Elin said. "Outside of the fact that most of the team gives me dirty looks when they find Nolan and I curled up — not making out or anything. Just … together."

"Which team?" Krissy asked, her head tipped to the side. "Because you know… the senior squad gives me and Chance dirty looks sometimes too…"

"The adults don't really seem to mind, actually," Elin replied.

"Well, I think Nolan's alright," Krissy said. "But he and Chance have never gotten along. He's probably shooting _Nolan _dirty looks, not you."

"Right," she said, shaking her head.

"Really. They just… don't mesh. It's a disaster when they're in the same room; I've seen it," Krissy said, shaking her head. "Boys are just… weird sometimes."

"Stupid."

"Fun to kiss, though."

"Some more than others."

"Well, not _everyone _can have the beautiful boyfriend I do," Krissy said with a sniff and a smirk.

"I'm still leaning toward the darker-haired options," Elin laughed. "For now."

"I like brunette," Krissy said.

"For now," she laughed.

Krissy just laughed at that. "You can't tease me about wanting to 'go all demonic' on him one second and then dismiss him the next!"

"Of course I can," she said with a scrunched up nose. "Just because you kiss them doesn't mean you have to keep them forever."

Krissy shook her head at Elin and leaned over to kiss her cheek. "Mmm, no. I think I'm keeping you now."

"You can't do that. You said you wouldn't kiss me — and I'm definitely not on the 'kiss once; keep forever' list."

"You so are and you don't even know it."

"I so am _not_," she argued.

"Who else am I going to go to if I need to admit I thought about kissing Sying for a hot second?"

"_That _doesn't mean you have to keep me."

"It so does. What if it happens again? I _need _my Ellie."

"You need your head checked," Elin said. "I don't know anything about keeping boys around on purpose."

"Yes, but you know _me_," Krissy insisted, snuggling into Elin. "And sometimes, I need the reminder to keep both feet on the ground."

"Shut up and watch the movie," Elin replied, though she was snuggling her back. "You're getting all sappy on me."

"I'm going to go ahead and claim kidnapee privilege," she said. "I get to be sappy after getting tied up and shipped to _Australia_, okay? I probably will never get to see Ael on the Great Barrier Reef again at this point."

"You were in the outback," she said. "Nowhere near the reef."

"I'm not going back to Oz," Krissy said, shaking her head. "No way."

"If I can go back to the ocean after putting up with your creepy grampa, you can go back to Oz with your little Kree friend."

"I'm not going back until I know they're not gonna, like… I mean. There's a _reason _your parents don't go to Canada much."

"We don't always tell anyone, but we do," Elin told her. "Just not to the cities. Dad has places all over Canada."

Krissy let out a sigh. "Fine. I'll _think _about it." She rested her head on Elin's shoulder. "Later."

* * *

The kids were all relying on each other for support and coping in their own ways, and the adults were trying to respect that space, letting them form their own support systems while also doing what they could to make sure the kids knew _they _were part of the support system too.

So when Noh saw Sying slip into the _Marvel _while Noh was working on it, he stopped what he was doing to give his son his full attention - especially considering the look on Sying's face. "What seems to be the problem to have you looking like the world has fallen around you?" he asked gently.

Sying took a deep breath and let it out as he sat down close by. "It's just…" He paused, trying to find the right words. "I didn't _mean _to go into a white run, Dad. And I could have hurt someone." He held up a hand. "I'm not worrying about the could haves; I'm saying I don't want it to happen _again_, and I'm not sure what went wrong to get me there?"

"Sying," Noh said, starting off very hesitantly as he tried to find the right way to put it. "You can't simply ignore that you can do a white run. I had honestly assumed that you'd discover one way or another that you could - or couldn't … but I don't think that anything went _wrong_. In fact. If I go by what K had put in the mission report, the conditions were perfect for it." He watched Sying for a few moments. "If you want to keep from hurting people, then you should learn how to use it when you _mean _to."

"Yes, please," Sying said, letting his shoulders drop.

Noh reached over to rest his hands on Sying's shoulders, waiting for him to look him in the eyes. "As for the damage you caused ... " When Sying looked up at his dad, Noh smiled wider. "I couldn't be prouder of what you did. They were asking very loudly to be razed."

Sying let out a laugh of almost-disbelief. "Love you too, Dad," he said.


	15. The Fall of An Icon

After everything that had happened in the last couple of months, just about everyone was coming into Westchester to be with family for the holidays. Most of the LA and Chicago staff had come… Alex and Lorna, Billy and Teddy - everyone was there. It was usually the case that they only had those _huge _get-togethers every other year, and last year had been big, but considering how close they'd come several times to losing some of their members, and considering the fact that the Summers and Howlett families were still wary with Sinister out there again - it was just a good idea to have everyone come to the institute.

Erik was doing better after a week or so after the rescue, which was good, considering Billy and Teddy's twins were mobbing him for attention - when Lydia wasn't sitting in his lap babbling to him.

James and Peter were both making the rounds, camera in hand - but while everyone was watching Peter, James was doing his thing - very off the cuff and well blended in to the group. He stopped for just a moment after he'd managed to get a picture of Peter - taking a picture of Lydia and simply turned the viewfinder so May could see it without a word spoken, which just prompted May to smile warmly at him and pull him closer into a quick hug as she kissed his cheek.

America, meanwhile, had dropped into the seat next to Billy as he was watching his twins with Erik and let Santiago climb up beside Billy and snuggled his godfather. "How's the stargazing, Teddy?" she asked with a crooked smile.

"Still my favorite pastime," Teddy said without missing a beat.

"Sure you even get any face time lately?" America asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean, it seems like it's constant crisis time over here."

Billy just chuckled and shook his head at her. "Nothing world-ending yet," he said.

"Uh huh." She shook her head. "You need to get your eyes checked, _chico_."

"Really. You can ask Pete if you want. The Avengers, SHIELD - with Viper out of the way, we're cleaning up nicely right now."

America tipped her head to the side, then smirked. "Shame. I like it when you go full floating terror and _destroy _everything. You should invite me next time."

"I'll think about it."

"Billy." America leaned over and put her finger in the center of his chest. "You should invite me next time."

"Right." He nodded, and Teddy just started laughing beside him.

"You missed out on the after," Logan told America. "More entertaining than the floating terror." he picked up Santo, who was pulling at his leg. "_Someone _punched a spent bullet into Viper's face."

"And I missed it?" America looked completely betrayed.

"All that was sticking out was the chain attached to it," Logan told her with a pleased sort of smirk just before he took a drink of the beer in his hand.

"Why the heck was there a chain attached to a bullet?" America asked, wrinkling her nose.

"She said 'heck'," Santiago giggled in Logan's ear. "Cuz Uncle Billy's kids don't say _hell_."

Logan smirked wider at him and nodded. "Most don't," he said to Santo before he answered America. "Viper had pulled it out of Gerry and was wearing it like a trophy."

America's eyebrows shot up, though it was Teddy who said, "You've got to be kidding me."

"Nope. So … K gave it back to her." As he thought about the very idea of it, the smirk he'd been wearing stretched into a smile and he tried to cover it by finishing off his beer.

Teddy shook his head. "Yeah. That - she earned that. The hard way."

"Not to mention coming after my best friends' kids," America muttered. She shook her head. "We sure we _have _to let her go to trial? I'm not an Avenger or an X-Man…"

"If K don't go back for her," Logan said under his breath.

Teddy tipped his head to the side at that. "You could always extradite her," he said. "I mean, didn't she kidnap a Kree? I'm just saying."

"We could - but then you'd be robbing my wife of mutilating her bit by bit? And that'd be your funeral," Logan replied. "She's got a thing about taking Viper down herself."

"No idea why," Billy said dryly, though there was a smirk tugging at the corner of his mouth.

Logan shrugged one shoulder up as Santo curled in. "Territorial, maybe."

"I guess it's a mystery we'll never solve," America said airily.

Logan gave her a look over Santo's shoulder as the little boy let out a sigh - clearly drifting off to sleep.

"Oh please," America said, waving her hand at him as she leaned back. "Your wife is scarier than you are."

"Never said she wasn't," Logan replied. "You wanna take your kid now?"

America just grinned at him and picked up the sleepy little boy. "Thanks for settling him out. He's been trying to keep up with Malin and Kade all day."

"Like you didn't tell him to come to me," Logan said, shaking his head.

"You have me confused with my delusional best friend who thinks you need _help _getting small children to come to you," America said in that same airy tone.

"I … _I _need help?" he said, looking perfectly shocked. "You two …"

America just grinned. "So you're saying you _don't _need help with children coming to you?" she teased. "Think carefully, now, because one answer gets me twenty bucks."

"I'm gonna work on gettin' a beer to come to me," Logan said before he turned and just walked off.

"So close," Teddy teased.

"Oh please. She was the one who bet he'd admit he was a kid magnet. _I _am twenty dollars richer now."

K made her way over to Erik with a glass of warm spiced wine to slip into his hand. "I figured the Glögg was going to be too much tonight. Mulled wine instead."

Erik smiled warmly at her. "Thank you, my dear," he said and gestured for her to take a seat next to him.

"How are you doing tonight?" K asked as she lifted her mug to her lips.

He waved a hand. "Well enough," he said. "It doesn't take much to simply enjoy my family, and it's nice to have the time."

"You have all of them here, too," she said, nodding.

He nodded with a little twinkle in his eyes. "You know, I believe Michael might be more magnetic than he realized… but I'll let him figure it out on his own."

"He's got Lorna too," she pointed out. "I'm sure she'll help."

"Of course she will," Erik said, still smiling. "I don't know that she's seen it yet, though - it was just this morning when he reached for a spoon for his cereal. They'll see it more plainly soon, I'm sure."

"And you? You didn't really answer me."

He let out a breath. "I'm tired," he admitted, then smirked her way. "I know I look it."

"You look a lot better with the family around you."

He nodded and leaned back a bit to watch Magda and Charlie giggling together over something or other. "I only wish I could give them a better world," he said quietly.

"Oh, they'll get it," K said just loud enough for him to hear.

"Certainly better than the one we were raised in," he agreed. "And yet there is still so much more to be done, and so many steps backwards in the progress the X-Men have made." He shook his head. "You'll have to forgive me; I can't help but think if I were twenty years younger…"

"Erik … I will make sure none of this nonsense slips any further than it already has."

Erik raised an eyebrow and turned fully her way. "You and I both know that it can and will."

"No," she replied, meeting his gaze. "It will. Not."

He held her gaze for a long moment before he finally nodded. "Then they're lucky to have you," he said with a smirk, tipping his head toward where the youngest kids were playing.

K didn't respond more than to sit back again and tip up her glass of warm, spiced wine as the two of them fell into companionable silence - at least until Lydia came over to say hello to them.

"Hi!" she said, waving at K as she climbed up Erik's knee. "Wuv Erik."

"Who _doesn't _wuv Erik?" K said, smirking at the little girl.

Lydia giggled and shook her head. "Silly."

K smiled at her then got up to leave them alone. "Let me know if you need more wine," she called back to Erik, though she didn't get far into the group of heroes before Billy caught up to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"You're amazing; you know that?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'll take the compliment all the same," K replied.

Billy just grinned, gave her another quick hug, and then headed off back to Teddy and America.

* * *

For the most part, things had been quiet for the holidays, though Peter had been incredibly busy after Hanukkah and hadn't been around quite as much, since SHIELD was making a big push to dismantle the trafficking rings before anyone new could step into Viper's position running the business.

So when he had a little time the day after New Year's, he surprised May and took her out to lunch just the two of them - to catch up and have some peace and quiet to themselves.

He was just walking her home when all of a sudden, everything metal on the street started to float a couple feet off the ground.

"Oh crap," Peter muttered, looking toward May, who was already pulling out her cell phone to call Hank.

By the time Hank picked up on the other end, though, the situation was already escalating, with everything not only floating but _moving_, going toward May's house as the two of them followed the line of metal. "Dr. McCoy," May said in an incredibly businesslike tone, "if you could come to my house again - I think Erik's had another stroke."

"I'll be there before you know it," Hank promised.

May let out a breath, "Thank you," she said before she hung up the phone and turned to Peter with a distinct frown on her face, and he just pulled his arm through hers.

In the few moments it took for Kurt to arrive with Hank, the metal was starting to converge - trash cans and street poles and anything remotely metal-lined starting to spin into something like a vortex around the little house in Queens, moving in tighter and tighter circles and feeding into the house itself, right through walls and the roof.

Kurt and Hank glanced at each other. It would be difficult to get anywhere close to Erik, with sharp-edged metal all around them. The damage to the house itself was a testament to that - and when Kurt experimentally teleported a bit closer, he only saw the interior of the house with a literal storm of metal for an instant before he had to teleport away again to avoid being impaled.

Until it all very suddenly just stopped and hung there for a moment - and fell.

* * *

Inside the house, Erik wasn't aware of all that was happening around him. Truth be told, he wasn't aware of much at all, until it seemed to him that everything was suddenly much lighter - not quite like the dizziness he had just experienced before he fell, but more like an airy feeling.

He frowned a bit as he looked around himself, unsure of what to think, until he saw a familiar figure _striding _toward him and quite simply couldn't believe what he was seeing. "Charles?"

"Hello, old friend," the familiar voice replied. "It's been a long time."

Erik couldn't help but shake his head and smile. "Far too long for my tastes," he agreed.

"It's time for you to finally let go, Erik."

Erik watched his old friend for a long time. "There's still so much that needs doing."

"And we can trust them to do it for us," Charles replied.

At that, Erik finally nodded and took two steps forward to simply embrace his old friend for a moment and then step back. "In this instance, I believe I'll follow you."

* * *

When Kurt arrived in Westchester with May, he was sure to teleport her to where he knew K would be with the younger kids - Malin and Kade were just getting ready for naps and were curled up nearby, sharing a blanket and even snoring quietly.

When K saw the expression on May's face, she just looked at Kurt and shooed him off with both hands and got up to bring May closer to the kids. "Are you alright?" she asked.

May sat down heavily beside K and took a deep breath before very quietly shaking her head. "I will be," she said at last.

K looked crestfallen before she went ahead and pulled May into a hug. "I'm so sorry."

May wrapped her arms around K and simply buried herself in the hug. "We always knew it would happen sooner or later."

"It doesn't make it any easier," K replied.

May shook her head lightly and simply lost herself in the hug for a little while.

And meanwhile, Kurt had gone to get a bit of help for Peter and Hank, who were still at the remains of May's house. They wanted to get everything in order before the authorities arrived, though Peter had already called SHIELD to let them know - so that he was taking jurisdiction over the scene so no local police would stick their noses in.

When he returned to the scene, he had both Scott and Logan with him. "Kate is calling Billy and Tommy," he told Peter. "Lorna knows already."

Peter just nodded. "How's Aunt May?" he asked.

"With K," Kurt told him. "And you know she'll watch over her."

Logan dropped a hand on Peter's shoulder - and in a breath, Peter had simply turned it into a hug. And Logan didn't correct him either.

The five men worked in silence for a while, thankfully uninterrupted beyond the few times that Peter had to play the SHIELD card to turn away interested parties, until they were finally able to salvage the living room - which had been at the center of it all.

Surprisingly, there was almost no damage to that part of the house, with Erik at the center of the room and looking almost peaceful. He was close to the fireplace, which was still standing - and so were all of May's pictures sitting on the mantle, of not only a young Peter and Ben Parker but more recent ones like Lydia and both of Billy and Teddy's twins.

"I've got him," Kurt said quietly, and in a moment, he and Erik had disappeared, leaving the other four to collect the few important things that had survived - like all of May's picture books and the hand-crafted cane that Tommy had bought Erik for Christmas.

From there, the rest of the men went with Peter as he tried to salvage what he could of Aunt May's things and headed over to his house before the whole group -plus Peter's family went back to Westchester, leaving SHIELD to clean up the damage.

* * *

Everyone in the mansion was dealing with Erik's loss in their own way, but Krissy and Sying had managed to drift into each other's orbit again because they were both struggling with the same problem: feeling like they were responsible for Erik's downfall.

Neither of them _said _as much out loud, not to each other, since they both sort of understood implicitly that they were both feeling that way. They just stayed close to each other, feeling pretty crummy.

"Wow. I'm so glad I brought enough ice cream for six people because you two … need extra," Billy said shortly after simply appearing across the room from Sying and Krissy.

Sying shook his head but stole some of the ice cream from Billy all the same. "No one believes you just 'happened' to bring extra," he said as he dug in.

"Well maybe they should," Billy said. "Mandatory amounts of ice cream for certain levels of misery." He handed Krissy her share then sat down next to her. "Is there a reason you're both hiding?"

The two kids glanced at each other and then shrugged in tandem. "We're not _hiding_," Krissy said.

"You are," Billy argued as he took a bite of his own ice cream and pulled his feet up.

"We're not," Sying said. "We just wanted … we're just …"

"You're wallowing in guilt that doesn't belong to you," Billy said. "So you're hiding."

Once more, Krissy and Sying glanced at each other and had an entire conversation in only expressions. "He had to spend time in the hospital wing after he came to get us," Krissy pointed out softly.

"He had to spend time in the hospital wing every time he over stressed himself over the past … almost ten years," Billy pointed out.

"Yeah, and we're the ones who over-stressed him," Sying said softly.

"No," Billy said, shaking his head. "He over stressed himself. He was looking for a fight."

"Billy," Krissy said over the top of her ice cream, "don't play it down."

"Krissy," Billy countered. "Don't play it up. Don't you think that I would have stopped you or stepped in if it was _anything _that you would have done?"

"Okay, that's… a good point…"

"He was happier than he'd been in years when he had the chance to go strike the fear of Magneto into those creeps," Billy pointed out, then closed one eye as he amended himself. "Well not _happy_ … but … he had a purpose again for a few hours that didn't revolve around tea time."

"He just seemed so happy with May," Sying said. "And she's so upset now."

"He was!" Billy promised. "He loved her, he did … but he was always a fighter. It was hard for him to see himself slow down." Billy set his spoon down for a moment and watched both of them. "Aunt May will be alright. It was a shock, but she's a lot stronger than pretty much anyone."

"She is," Krissy agreed. "Which is why it hurts to feel like we were part of what made her that sad."

"You weren't though," Billy said. "He didn't lose one minute of the time he had left by going to help you."

"Are you saying that as the Demiurge or as our Uncle Billy?" Krissy asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Yes. It was more of a timer than an hourglass issue. Shaking the glass didn't change a thing."

"Fair enough," Sying said, stealing some more ice cream to add to his own bowl. "But … we can still feel crummy, right? Because we do."

Billy held up his bowl of ice cream. "So do I. And I knew it was coming. I knew for a _long time _that it was coming."

"Then I'm sorry about that too," Krissy said, leaning over to rest her head on his shoulder, with Sying doing the same on his other side. "Love you, Uncle Billy."

"Love you too," Billy said. "I just couldn't stand by while you blamed yourself for nature."

"Thanks for the reminder," Sying said. "And the ice cream."


	16. Legacy

Even with SHIELD locking down the area, it wasn't long before the news had picked up the story of Erik's death. After all, the entire street in Queens had suddenly experienced a magnetic event; it wasn't hard to find the story there.

The reactions were… mixed, to say the least. It was hard for those on the outside to know how to feel about it, especially given Erik's mixed record as the head of the Brotherhood, as an X-Man, and as a retired supervillain. There were a few sympathetic reports on the airwaves, obviously focusing more on his later actions as well as the progress that he forced the world to make in human-mutant relations. There was no denying that even at the height of his worst tendencies, he forced the issues facing mutants to the forefront of public consciousness.

But not everyone was so sympathetic. In fact, there were plenty of voices who couldn't — or wouldn't — get past the Magneto that had taken extreme measures, that had threatened humanity itself in the name of protecting mutantkind. Some of it was fair, and the X-Men knew it — they'd experienced it themselves. And some of it was bitter. One report in particular called Erik's death "the end of an age of terror," and he didn't stop there.

"It's time for the world to move past the dictatorial tendencies of his way of thinking — an 'us versus them' mentality that told mutants they were _superior_ to humankind. The world has moved on from outdated hatred," the reporter was saying, before going on in his report to detail all of the worst Erik had done as Magneto and claiming that he'd led so many others to such extremes that the "damage" would go on for generations.

K finished her coffee, looking as if she hadn't heard a word on the television as she took her mug to the sink and then grabbed Logan's keys off of the counter. "I'll be back before too long. I need a new dress for the funeral," K said. "I'd like to get something with a little red."

She barely glanced around the room before she silently made her way to the garage and then simply headed out to take care of business.

* * *

The X-Men were good at funerals.

The group of them had made the arrangements for Erik quickly enough. There wasn't a question that he'd be buried at the school, of course, and with the holidays being so recent, so many of the X-Men were already close at hand to be there.

Most of the real work was in being with his family, though. Peter hadn't left May's side, looking crestfallen as he held her hand. He hated to see her alone again. Even if he and Sara had already put her belongings in their home… he still hated to see it. He made it a point, too, to keep her away from the news, especially anything that was tearing Erik's legacy to shreds.

Lorna was of course a quiet mess beside Alex, and Magda hadn't taken her hand off of the pendant that she and Erik had made as she learned better control. They would shape and reshape it in their lessons until it was back into the cursive, beautifully-formed "M" as always. And Michael was sitting close to his big sister and letting her rest her head on his shoulder.

Billy's little family was faring a bit better. He'd known that it was coming, and he had done what he could to warn the twins that their great-grandfather wasn't going to be around forever. But that didn't change the fact that the twins looked downhearted, and even Billy had lost a lot of his usual sparkle. The galaxies even seemed slower as they turned in his eyes as both of his foster parents sat beside him and Teddy, on either end of the couple, simply _being there_ for them.

But Tommy … Tommy was inconsolable. He was sitting out in the yard with Cassie Lang beside him, his head in his hands and his devastation dripping off his shoulders. He'd been so close to Erik for the past few years — and he'd been planning to take Cassie to Erik and May's place that weekend after she'd finally agreed to go out with him on New Year's.

It wasn't just family that was mourning, either. Most of the X-Men were shaken up by the loss — to varying degrees, of course. It was odd for Jubilee, for example, to have just learned how to use Cerebro from him and then to lose him. And Scott obviously had taken it hard — especially since Charlie had _adored _Erik since she was little.

The mood in the mansion was somber as everyone gathered for the funeral - though K's absence was finally apparent when the services were nearly ready to start.

They were just minutes out from the start of the funeral when K came in - perfectly coiffed and in an outfit that absolutely looked fitted as she slipped in next to Logan and took his arm with a kiss.

"I thought you needed red," Logan said with a raised eyebrow.

She took half a step back and picked up her foot to show the red soles on the heels. "Just a touch. It took longer than I thought it would." But the expression on his face clearly read that he wasn't buying it at all.

"What the hell were you doing?" he asked quietly as he leaned into her hair.

"Shopping. Of course." She frowned at him and let him put his arm around her. "What else would I be doing?"

But before anyone could give her grief about it, Billy made his way over to her, away from where he had been seated with his family, to take K's arm and kiss her cheek. "Thank you," he whispered to her.

"Love you boys," she replied before she kissed him right back. "Go on. We'll be here. Out of the way."

He smiled softly and gave her another quick kiss on the cheek and a hug before he went back to sit with Teddy and the twins - and gently nudge Sammy to go hug her uncle.

It was a beautiful service, of course. Lorna and May both spoke, and Tommy managed to pull himself together enough that both of Wanda's boys were able to speak as well - and by the time Scott gave the eulogy, the whole group was really starting to feel the weight of years on them. After all, it was easier to think Magneto would have gone out in a fight, not because of age.

The group didn't immediately disperse as many of the X-Men and family and friends stayed behind to simply look out for each other. But while Scott had been sort of quietly hanging back, he was surprised when May pulled him aside and into a warm hug, her eyes shining as she pressed something into his hand.

He was surprised when he looked down to see that she had handed him, of all things, the cane that Erik had started to use the past few years, since his last stroke.

"I know you won't use it often," May said. "But I think it's a bit tall for me." There was a small twinkle in her eyes. "And besides, it's high time you took a little better care of yourself. He trusted you with that dream - you need to stick around and defend it." With that, she simply gestured him down to her level so she could kiss his cheek and then took Peter's arm and headed over to where Billy's little twins were.

While May was playing with the twins, though, Peter had gotten a call from SHIELD, and Billy frowned a bit when he saw Peter standing off to the side taking the call. He slipped around Teddy and Tommy to go stand by Peter until the car was over and then tipped his head to the side. "Something important?" he asked.

"Graydon Creed's kid - that loudmouth reporter? - just died about an hour ago. Massive stroke," Peter said.

"Doesn't seem like a SHIELD issue," Billy pointed out.

"It's a little suspicious, the timing," Peter said. "I mean, we've been keeping an eye on him - he's trying to revive his dad's old organization. He's got files on the most 'dangerous' mutants and all the best ways to kill them."

"You'll forgive me if I don't mourn," Billy said.

Peter shook his head. "There's a few files that the Friends of Humanity won't be able to salvage. He spilled his coffee all over them."

"Shame."

Peter looked up at Billy, though it was hard to read his expression with the galaxies there. "Okay, Mr. All-Seeing Eye. What's up here?"

"Oh, nothing. I just won't step in if I see someone like that on a rocket trajectory to dying," Billy said with a shrug. "Could have been bad if he didn't, but he was never going to get that far."

Peter raised an eyebrow at Billy. "Yeah, that's not making this seem any less suspicious, Billy-boy."

Billy shrugged and then put an arm around Peter's shoulders. "That wasn't what I wanted to talk to you about anyway, and I'm really not going to waste any time during my grandfather's funeral caring about a guy who hated everything he stood for, okay?" he said.

"Fair," Peter said with a small nod. "So what did you need?"

"I just wanted to check on you," Billy admitted. "You're part of the family - or I'm part of yours. However you want to consider it." He shrugged. "And I can see SHIELD throwing their all into trying to break up the trafficking rings with Viper out of the picture, and that's great - I just wanted to make sure my cousin-in-law or whatever you want to call yourself has his head on straight."

"My head's just fine," Peter insisted.

"Uh-huh." Billy tipped his head to the side, the stars in his eyes swirling a bit in the way that usually meant he was looking into the future. "I just thought you should know - even if SHIELD had stepped in sooner, _even if _Viper's operation had been broken up and Erik never had to step in, he was still on his way out. I saw it a long time ago, and it's just been getting clearer ever since. Even if he hadn't gone all out getting Krissy and Sying, we'd be holding this funeral in a couple months, three at most."

Peter frowned Billy's way for a moment before he finally just had to nod. "That… actually is helpful. Thanks."

"Got your back, Director," Billy said with a little smirk.

"Assistant Director."

"Not for much longer," Billy said, the smirk widening before he simply disappeared before Peter could even really process it, reappearing by Lydia to get her to giggle _madly _at his teleporting trick.

And meanwhile, Logan was still muttering over K's shoulder all the way up to the house in a hushed urgent tone that she was flatly ignoring every step of the way. He'd heard what Peter had said, put two and two together and was _not _happy about it.

"You're being paranoid," K said easily. "And not the cute paranoid. The ugly, ugly one."

"I'm not being paranoid," he argued. "I'm pointing out that you can't do crap like this."

The two of them had stopped near the stairs, which was where Scott found them as he was headed in to find a place to put the cane May had given him, though he paused and frowned when he saw the expressions on both of their faces and heard the last comment Logan had made. "What's going on here?"

K rolled her eyes and shook her head lightly. "He's being paranoid."

"I'm busting you out and you're pretending nothing happened," Logan growled out. "Stop trying to _lie to me._"

Scott looked between them both and seemed to try to diffuse the situation with a smirk K's way. "Are you really pulling 'I didn't put my hand in the cookie jar' with _Logan_?"

"That would be ridiculous," K replied, but it just seemed to irritate Logan more. "I know I can't lie to him." She gave Logan a smile, but by then he was just growling outright.

"Alright, K, really. What's going on?" Scott asked with one eyebrow raised.

"Nothing of note," K said, squaring up to both of them and putting one hand on her hip.

"Then you won't mind sharing," Scott countered.

"It took a little longer to find my dress than I'd expected. I was late." she shrugged. "Sue me."

"You've never taken a shopping trip longer than what's barely necessary," Scott pointed out.

"True. But it took longer than I thought to find what I wanted," K said. "That does happen from time to time, and usually when I'm in a rush."

"Which is where the lies come in," Logan said.

"K, we _just _talked about this with Viper," Scott said, shaking his head. "Let us help."

"Scott, there is nothing to help with," K said in a nearly pleading tone. "Honestly."

"Then tell me, _honestly_, what is actually going on here?" Scott said, crossing his arms.

"Currently, I am trying to go upstairs to change."

"K." Scott shook his head. "You're leaving out the part where you're apparently lying to Logan - and claiming there's nothing to help with? Clearly, there is."

"No there isn't because I'm already done."

At that, Scott raised an eyebrow and stepped slightly forward. "With what?"

"It really doesn't matter at this point."

"With what, K?" Scott repeated.

"I really thought I'd get upstairs first?" K replied. "Quieter setting. Less witnesses. That kind of thing."

"Yes, well, that didn't happen," Scott said.

"Because you tried to frikkin' lie to _me_," Logan pointed out, but that only got a narrowed eye glare from K.

"An opportunity presented itself to take out some trash."

"Who?" Scott asked.

"A hateful creep that had a laundry list of best ways to kill everyone on the team and who was pushing to fire up the Friends of Humanity again."

Scott shook his head. "That's something we could have helped with, K."

"Not without pulling yourself into the spotlight for it," K pointed out. "As it stands, the files were destroyed and the coroner's report reads natural causes."

"_K_."

"What."

"That's not how we do things," Scott said.

"Which is why I didn't involve you."

"K, you're on my team!"

"If it'll ease your conscience, I'll quit."

Scott stared at her for a second. "Oh come on."

"His plan for _you _was to blind you first," K said. "And not with a blindfold. After that there was nothing quick or humane that was on the checklist." She turned to gesture to Logan and then to herself. "Nothing too imaginative for us … decapitation. Mostly. Along with some less than creative mutilation of the corpses. Then there were the plans for Storm - I wasn't very impressed there either, but this creep found out about her claustrophobia - simple case of bury her alive where she couldn't reach any atmosphere. It goes on and on. So. Tell me how I am wrong."

Scott looked clearly taken aback for a moment before he finally took a breath. "We're not the executors of justice," he said.

"No. We're not," she agreed. "But you were the one to say this was a family. And I'm not letting anyone screw with that."

"If you knew this, you should have told the team. We can deal with it without resorting to murder," Scott argued.

"Oh, sure. And maybe I would have if the guy didn't have a plan in place - and people set to put it in action. They were mission files. Not speculatory." She tipped her head and opened her purse. "If you want to be involved - here are the names of the guys that were set to start coming after people." She held the paper out but didn't drop his gaze. "Of course - if you don't want to be bothered with chasing legal routes of people that are actively stalking kids, you can just let it go."

"K, we have to be better than them," Scott said quietly, frowning at the paper in her hand, though he did take it.

"I understand that. But when you're dealing with people that refuse to even consider that an entire section of the population is even human … you can't reason with people that want to kill you."

"That describes just about everyone the X-Men have had to deal with," Scott pointed out.

"And how many of them actively are seeking ways to kill you?"

"Beyond the MRD and their ilk - it seems the popular option is more to capture lately," Scott pointed out.

"He kept the list of names of mutants his father killed," K told him. "It's framed. On the wall. Like a trophy."

Scott frowned and was silent for a moment, obviously weighing it out and leaning on Erik's cane without even thinking about it.

"_One hundred and forty seven_ lost souls to _one _person." She gave him a moment to weigh it out. "I'm not talking about the whackos that look at it like an idea, Scott. I'm looking into actual monsters."

Scott was still quiet for a long time before he finally dropped his shoulders a bit and handed the list back to her. "If word gets out," he said quietly, "I won't leave you hanging. But no one else on the team knows. Agreed?"

"I can tell you when I get back."

"I want to know when you leave," Scott said. "You can't expect - when we're in the middle of this nuclear arms race with mutants caught in the middle, when _Sinister _just escaped - you can't expect me to sit by if you're missing. I want to know when you leave."

"And I want to know the rest," Logan added.

K looked between the two of them for a moment and finally nodded as she let Logan lead her away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And thus ends this volume - keep your eyes open for the next installation "Charlie".


End file.
